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PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


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BL  51 

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1877 

\ 

Cooper 

,  John 

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The  science 

of  spiri 

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fc  ^tujtu>^  /A^- 


THE 


SCIENCE   OF   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 


I'KINTEIJ   BY    HALLANTYNE.    HANSON    AND   CO. 
EDINBUKCJH    AND    LONDON. 


>; 


THE 


*     JAN  19  1911 


^^So. 


'I^mki  se!:a^ 


SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE; 


OR, 


THE  ADAPTATION  OF  CHRISTIANITY  TO  THE 
NATURE  AND  CONDITION   OF   MAN. 


BY   THE 


REV.    JOHN    COOPER. 


SECOND  EDITION. 


LONDON: 

SAMPSON  LOW,  MARSTON,  SEARLE,  &  RIVINGTON, 

CROWN  BiriLDINGS,   i8S  FLEET  STREET. 

\^All  rights  resat'ci/.] 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 


It  is  now  ten  years  since  the  First  Edition  of  the 
"  Science  of  Spiritual  Life  "  was  published.  During 
these  years  many  books  on  religious  subjects  have 
issued  from  the  press,  but  though  carefully  watching, 
I  have  not  yet^seen  any  book  which  has  attempted 
to  deal  with  the  wide  and  important  subject  to  the 
elucidation  of  which  this  volume  is  devoted.  A 
fertile  region,  therefore,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  is  allowed 
in  great  measure  to  remain  unproductive. 

As  indicated  in  the  Preface  to  the  First  Edition, 
the  book  was  written  and  put  through  the  press  under 
very  disadvantageous  circumstances,  and  in  con- 
sequence blemishes  were  allowed  to  pass,  which  in 
other  circumstances  would  not  have  found  place. 
These  blemishes  have  now  in  part  been  removed, 
yet  this  Second  Edition  is  substantially  the  same 
as  the  First.  The  following  are  the  main  changes 
which  have  been  made : — A  new  Introduction  has 
been  substituted.  The  substance  of  the  Appendix 
has  been  inwrought  into  the  chapter  on  the  Power 
of  Reconciliation,  and  the  twenty-third  chapter, 
entitled  "Inspiration,"  has  been  recast,  and  now 
constitutes    chapter    third,    and   is    entitled     "The 


vi  PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 

Transmission  and  Reception  of  Truth."  These  are 
the  principal  changes  which  have  been  made  in  the 
Look,  at  all  events,  the  only  changes  which  call  for 
special  notice. 

I  cannot  allow  this  opportunity  to  pass  without 
referring  to  the  second  chapter — a  chapter  over 
which  it  would  seem  many  have  been  sorely  exercised. 
This  chapter  I  have  still  retained,  for  this  reason,  viz., 
the  book  is  intended  for  those  who  are  familiar  with 
the  style  of  thought  which  runs  through  that  chapter, 
as  well  as  for  those  to  whom  it  is  strange ;  the  former 
may  be  able  to  appreciate  it,  the  latter  may  pass  on 
to  the  following  chapters,  and  do  little  violence  to 
the  course  of  the  aro^ument. 

A  word  to  my  reviewers.  They  may  herein  see 
how  far  their  criticisms  and  suggestions  have  been 
approved  of  by  me,  and  I  would  take  this  opportunity 
of  thanking  them  for  the  courteous  and,  I  may  add, 
encouraging  manner  in  which  for  the  most  part  they 
have  reviewed  my  labours. 

The  book,  with  all  its  imperfections,  I  now  again 
send  forth  in  the  service  of  Him  who  accepts  the 
feeblest  efforts  put  forth  for  His  glory,  and  for  the 
good  of  man. 


PREFACE  TU  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 


The  principles  evolved  iu  this  volume  have  received 
the  attention  of  the  writer  for  years.  In  venturing 
to  give  them  to  the  world,  he  is  not  without  the 
humble  hope  that  they  may  (under  the  Divine 
blessing),  be  made  instrumental  in  helping  to 
establish  the  cause  of  truth,  and  to  promote  the 
glory  of  God.  He  regrets  that  the  circumstances 
under  which  he  has  committed  his  ideas  to  writing, 
and  thereafter  passed  them  through  the  press,  have 
not  been  of  the  most  favourable  character  for  the 
production  of  such  a  work.  The  statement  of  this 
fact  will  in  some  measure  explain,  while  it  does 
not  excuse,  and  is  not  intended  to  justify,  the 
imperfections  of  the  book.  A  just  and  impartial 
criticism  is  not  shunned,  but  will  rather  be  wel- 
comed. The  work  is  put  forth  as  a  small  contribu- 
tion to  the  great  cause  of  truth,  and  while,  in  the 
full  consciousness  of  its  imperfections,  it  is  laid  at 
the  feet  of  the  great  Teacher  of  the  race,  it  is  at 
the  same  time  offered  for  the  perusal  of  thoughtful 
men. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION  ......  I 

I.   MAN    A    RELIGIOUS    BEING,   IN    AN     IRRELIGIOUS    EFFORT 

AND  HELPLESS  CONDITION        .  .  .  .26 

II.   TRUTH  IN  ITS  HIGHER  MANIFESTATIONS        .  .  .40 

III.   THE  TRANSMISSION  AND  RECEPTION  OP  TRUTH  .  .         57 

IV.    THE  PRIMARY  LAWS  OP    PERCEPTION,  OR  THE  CONDITIONED 

OP  HUMAN  BELIEF       .  .  .  .  -76 

V.    THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE   DIVINE  ADMINISTRATION  .         84 

VI.    COMBINATION  OR  CAUSATION  .  .  .  -94 

VII.    THE  POWER  OP  CHOICE  .  .  .  1      .  •       I06 

VIII.   TRIAL  .  .  .  .  .  .  .12  1 

IX.    RETRIBUTION  .  .  .  ,  ,  -135 

X.    INABILITY  .  ,  .  .  .  •      151 

XI,   RECONCILIATION        .  .  .  .  .  -175 

XII.    POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION  .  .  .  '193 

XIII.  MEDIUM  OF  RECONCILIATION  ....      244 

XIV.  CONDITION  OP  RECONCILIATION         .  .  .  -259 
XV.   AGENT  OF  RECONCILIATION                  ....      270 

XVL    CAPACITY   OP     THE    HUMN   FOR    THE  INDWELLING  OF  THE 

DIVINE  .  .  .  .  .  ,281 

XVII.   RECEPTION  OP  CHRIST  .  .  .  .  .      29I 

XVIII.    THE  INDWELLING  OF  THE  DIVINE  IN  THE  HUMAN  .  .      ^OO 


CONTENTS. 

CHAP.  Page 

XIX.    UNION  OP  THE  HUMAN  WITH  THE  DIVINE  .  .      309 

XX.    UNION  AND  UNITY  OP  BELIEVERS  WITH   ONE  ANOTHER  IN 

THEIR  UNION  AND  UNITY  WITH  CHRIST  .  .      316 

XXI.    EXALTATION     OP     THE      HUMAN      IN      THE     SONSHIP      OF 

BELIEVERS        ..... 

XXII.    PERFECTION  ..... 


326 
338 


XXin.    DUTY  AND  RATIONALE  OF  PRAYER  .  .  .      346 

XSIV.    CONCLUSION  ......     369 


'h'/Lc  €(/."  '"o  0'^5  Tou  KoafjLOV — JoHN  viii.  12. 

'E7W  rfKBov  tva  iurjv  e'xwo'ti'  Kal  vepicahv  j'xwcnj'.—  John  x.  10. 

'E7W  djjii  6  dpTos  TTjs  i'wjys' — John  vi.  35. 

A/XTju  dfj.rjv  "keyw  i'luv,  b  Tnarevuv  els  ifie  e^et  ^urjv  aucviov. — JoHN  vi.  47. 

The  Master. 

"Ore  oe  €v56K7]aev  6  Oeds'  6  a<popiffas  /ue  eV  KoiXias  fJ,r]Tp6s  fiov  /cat  /caXecras  5ia  t-^s 
XdpiTOi  avTov  dTTOKokvipai  top  vlbv  avrov  eV  ipLol,  "va.  eva^yy iKi^up-ai  avrov  kv  to~s 
edveatV—GAL.  i.  15,  16. 

Zw  6e  ovKeTL  iyu  ^fj  be  iv  ipLol  Xptcrros  6  be  vvv  ftj  iv  aapKi  ev  Triarei.  fw  717  tou 
vlov  Tov  Qeou  70V  dyaxriffavTos  fie  Kal  TrapabovTos  eavrbv  vir^p  e/xov. — Gal.  ii.  20. 

'E7W  yap  ijoT]  aTrevbofxai  Kal  6  Kaipbs  t^j  eM-Tis  dva\vaeu)s  ecpecTTjKe.  tov  dydva 
TOV  Ka\bv  Tiyil'VLCTfiai,  tov  bpop-ov  TereXeKa,  tj]v  niffTiv  TeTrjpr)Ka'  Xoiirbv,  dnoKeiTai 
f.101  6  TTJs  5i.Katoaivris  CTeipavos,  bv  drrobiJjffei.  fioi  b  Kvpios  ^v  eKelvQ  ttj  Ttp-epa,  6 
biKaiOS  KpLTvs'  ov  jxbvov  be  i/xol,  &\\a  Kal  iracrt"  tois  rjyaTrrjKoai  T^^jv  eintpdveiav 
ai'Tov.  — 2  Tim.  iv .  6,  8. 

'0  be'  Ou  fialvo/JLai,  (p'']<rl,  KpaTtare  ^rjare,  dXX'  aXrjOeias  Kal  au<ppoaiJV7jS  p-qfxaTa 
diro<p9eyyonai. — Acts  xxvi.  25. 

The  Slave  tvho,  hi 
the  spirit  of  Jus  londage,  realised  the  highest  liberty. 


THE 

SCIENCE   OF   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Judging  by  tlie  signs  of  tlie  present  day,  it  "vvonld 
'appear  tliat  tlie  time  has  now  come  when  a  scientific 
exhibition  of  the  facts  and  principles  of  Christianity 
may  be  set  forth  with  advantage  ;  indeed,  we  may  go 
further  than  this,  and  affirm  that  such  a  setting  forth 
of  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  has  become  an  im- 
perative necessity. 

In  many  of  the  religious  controversies  which  from 
time  to  time  have  agitated  the  minds  of  men,  par- 
ticular doctrines  have  been  fully  discussed,  and  the 
result  has  been  in  most  cases  a  more  exact  estimate  of 
their  scientific  value.  This,  however,  is  not  exactly 
what  is  most  required  in  the  present  day.  The 
Christian  apologist  cannot  afford  always  to  be 
waging  war  on  behalf  of  this,  that,  or  the  other  doc- 
trine of  his  religion  ;  it  is  prudent  and  needful  to 
bring  together  the  whole  of  the  ascertained  facts  and 
doctrines  of  his  faith,  and  by  making  the  best  possible 
disposition  of  his  forces,  see  what  is  the  precise  posi- 
tion which  he  occupies. 


2  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

Scientific  exliibition  aiul  development  in  all  cases 
naturally  follow  an  inductive  period,  a  period  wliicli 
is  lon<xer  or  shorter  accordinix  to  circumstances.  In 
the  spiritual  sphere  few  if  any  great  outstanding  facts 
remain  to  be  o-athered  to2jetlier,  and  the  work  of  the 
scientist  in  this  direction  is  to  ,  discover  exactly  in 
what  direction  these  data  jioint — what  they  enable 
him  to  affirm,  and  what  to  deny.  He  is  not,  of 
course,  in  doing  so,  to  confine  himself  solely  to  the 
facts  developed  under  Christianity  ;  this  no  doubt  is 
his  main  source,  but  he  is  at  the  same  time  to  avail 
himself  of  all  facts,  from  whatever  source,  that  bear 
upon  the  task  which  he  undertakes. 

A  clear  conception  of  the  religions  of  the  world 
affords  no  small  aid  to  him  who  would  form  a  just 
estimate  of  the  scientific  value  of  Christian  doctrine. 
Such  a  one  will  find  that  Christianity  though  new, 
yet  in  one  sense  is  not  new  ;  he  will  find  that  in  the 
religions  of  the  world  there  are  rays  scattered  and 
broken  and  unintelligible  in  tliemselves,  which  are 
gathered  up  into  one  grand  luminous  centre  in  Chris- 
tianity. What  in  these  religions  is  a  dark  enigma,  is 
made  plain  in  the  light  which  Christianity  has  thrown 
upon  spiritual  being.  In  other  words,  Christianity 
brings  to  the  spiritual  in  man  what  that  spiritual  had 
lost  and  was  craving  after,  but  in  such  a  form  as 
longing  humanity  could  never  have  conceived  of. 
The  difference  between  the  religions  of  earth  and 
Christianity  is  this, — the  religions  of  earth  are  the 
yearnings,  the  guessings,  the  gropings  of  the  human 
after  the  Divine.     Christianity  is  the  Divine  descend- 


INTR  on  UC2V0N.  3 

ing  into,  possessing,  and  monlding  tlie  Iinman  after 
Itself. 

A  strange  use,  or  rather  misuse,  has  been  made  of 
the  forms  in  which  the  spiritual  element  in  man  has 
found  vent  before  the  comino-  of  Christ.  Judaism 
itself  has  not  escaped  the  same  kind  of  abuse  at  the 
hands  even  of  some  who  profess  great  zeal  for  the 
religion  of  Jesus.  Indeed,  many  seem  to  tliink  it 
needful  to  show  their  zeal  by  dis-esteeming  and  prac- 
tically cutting  all  connection  between  Christianity  and 
the  Jewish  Cultus  :  we  are,  I  trust,  beginning  to  learn 
a  more  excellent  way.  The  following  extract  glances 
at  a  profound  truth  :  "  AVhat  distinguishes  man  from 
all  other  creatures,  and  not  only  raises  him  above  the 
animal  world,  but  removes  him  altogether  from  the 
confines  of  a  merely  natural  existence,  is  the  feeling 
of  Sonship  inherent  in  and  inseparable  from  human 
nature.  That  feeling  may  find  expression  in  a  thou- 
sand ways,  but  there  breathes  through  all  of  them  the 
unextinguishable  conviction,  '  it  is  He  that  made  us 
and  not  we  ourselves.'  That  feeling  of  Sonship  may 
witli  some  races  manifest  itself  with  fear  and  trem- 
bling, and  it  may  drive  w^hole  generations  into  reli- 
gious madness  and  devil-worship.  In  other  countries 
it  may  tempt  the  creature  into  a  fatal  familiarity  with 
the  Creator,  and  end  in  an  apotheosis  of  man  or  a 
headlong  plunging  of  the  human  into  the  divine." '"■ 

Eeligious  or  spiritual  life  in  its  widest  acceptation 
has  taken  many  crude  and  even  revolting  and  disgust- 
ing forms  of  expression ;  but  the  wise  man  will  not  be 

*  Chips  from  a  German  Workshop,  i.  352. 


4  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

scared  away  from  his  investigation  on  that  account, 
any  more  than  will  a  physiologist  be  driven  away  from 
his  labours  because  they  are  at  times  the  reverse  of 
pleasant.  It  may  indeed  seem  strange  that  the  reli- 
gious feelings  of  men  should  take  such  crude  forms  as 
we  find  prevailing  in  different  ages,  and  yet,  read  in 
the  light  of  the  perplexity  expressed  on  the  subject  of 
religion  in  our  own  day  by  not  a  few  cultivated  minds, 
there  is  nothing  to  be  surprised  at  in  all  this.  It 
requires  no  great  stretch  of  imagination  to  picture  to 
ourselves  those  who  deny  the  Christian's  God — men 
of  the  most  advanced  materialistic  school,  yet  very 
angry  at  being  charged  with  Atheism,  inasmuch  as 
they  admit  an  unknown  and  unknowable  something, 
which  may,  for  all  they  know  to  the  contrary,  be  God, — 
it  is  easy  to  fancy,  we  say,  such  men  the  grossest  of  all 
idolaters  while  as  yet  the  taper  of  physical  knowledge 
burned  low.  Extremes  in  such  matters  usually  have 
a  point  of  contact. 

Be  this,  however,  as  it  may,  to  us  it  appears  that  the 
crudo  and  even  revolting  forms  of  which  we  sj^eak  are 
in  part  to  be  explained  objectively  and  in  part  sub- 
jectively. It  is  all  very  well  for  such  men  as  the  late 
J.  S.  Mill  (who  was  by  far  the  ablest  man  of  the  school 
of  thought  to  which  he  belonged)  to  say  that  the 
benefits  of  Christ's  teaching,  like  that  of  other  masters, 
whatever  it  amounts  to,  is  now  as  a  matter  of  fact  our 
possession,  and  that  such  truths  are  strong  enough 
of  themselves  to  retain  the  belief  of  mankind  after 
they  have  acquired  them.'""     Idens  of  this  sort  go  far 

*  Essay  on  the  Ulility  of  Religion. 


INTR  on  UCTION.  5 

to  lead  men  of  certain  tendencies  in  religion  to 
deny  that  men  ever  possessed  a  clearer  view  than 
they  now  have  of  moral  and  religious  truth.  The 
affirmation  of  such  men  is  that  the  course  of  man 
has  ever  been  upward— he  cannot  sink  and  lose 
hold  of  truths  once  laid  hold  of.  In  opposition, 
however,  to  this,  we  hold  by  the  superior  wisdom 
and  philosophy  of  one  old  writer  Avlien  he  says, 
"Because  that,  Avhen  they  knew  God,  they  glorified 
Him  not  as  God,  neither  were  thankful;  but  became 
vain  in  their  imaginations,  and  their  foolish  heart 
was  darkened.  Professing  themselves  to  be  wise, 
they  became  fools,  and  changed  the  glory  of  the 
uncorruptible  God  into  an  image  made  like  to 
corruptible  man,  and  to  birds,  and  four-footed  beasts, 
and  creeping  things." 

A  downward  course  became  a  necessity,  when  men 
had  separated  themselves  from  very  close  fellowshii) 
with  God.  The  difficulties  which  encompassed  man 
on  all  sides  at  first,  before  he  could  have  experience 
and  make  a  history  for  himself,  were  necessarily 
very  great,  so  great  that  nothing  short  of  constant 
intercourse  Avith  God  could  have  prevented  him 
from  falling  into  idolatry  of  the  grossest  kind.  In 
the  absence  of  knowledge  and  experience,  even  a 
pure  heart  could  not  have  always  proved  a  suffi- 
cient defence  for  man  without  close  contact  with 
his  Creator.  The  very  instrument  of  thought — viz., 
lano;uaQ;e — was  itself  misleadins;.  How  much  our 
progenitors  knew  of  the   nature  of  God  we  are  not 

*  Rom.  i.  21-23.  > 


6  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LI  IE. 

in  a  position  to  say  ;  but  the  liigliest  view  necessitated 
by  tlie  account  of  Creation  given  in  Genesis  does 
not  carry  us  very  far.  And  the  fossils  of  language 
embedded  in  the  Shemitic,  Aryan,  and  Turanian 
strata,  seem  to  indicate  that  the  spiritual  Avas 
better  known  and  more  clearly  realised  before  these 
main  stems  put  forth  their  many  shoots  than  for 
long  afterwards.  Yet,  as  an  instrument  of  spiritual 
thought,  language  was  miserably  imperfect.  Let  us 
listen  to  what  an  able  linguist  has  to  say  on  this 
point.  After  referring  to  primeval  civilisation,  ]\Iax 
Miiller  says :  "  And  let  us  not  turn  away  and  say 
that  this,  after  all,  Avas  but  nature-worship  and 
idolatry.  No  ;  it  was  not  meant  for  that,  though 
it  may  have  been  degraded  into  that  in  later  times  : 
Dyans  did  not  mean  the  blue  sky,  nor  was  it  simply 
the  blue  sky  personified ;  it  was  meant  for  somethiug 
else.  We  have  in  the  Veda  the  invocations  Dyans 
Pilar,  the  Greek  Ztv  Tlarep,  the  Latin  Jupiter ;  and 
that  means  in  all  the  three  lano^uao^es  what  it  meant 
before  these  three  lano-uafres  were  torn  asunder — it 
means  Heaven  Father !  These  two  words  are  not 
mere  words,  they  are  to  my  mind  the  oldest  poem, 
the  oldest  prayer  of  mankind,  or  at  least  of  that 
pure  branch  of  it  to  which  we  belong  ;  and  I  am  as 
firmly  convinced  that  this  prayer  was  uttered,  that 
this  name  was  given  to  the  Unknown  God  before 
Sanskrit  was  Sanskrit  and  Greek  was  Greek.  As 
when  I  see  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  the  language  of 
Polynesia  and  Milanesia,  I  feel  certain  that  it  was 
first  uttered  in  the  lane^uno^e  of  Jerusalem.  .  .  .     Thou- 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

sands  of  years  Lave  passed  since  the  Aryan  nations 
separated  to  travel  to  the  North  and  the  South, 
the  West  and  the  East.  They  have  each  formed 
their  languages  ;  they  have  each  founded  empires  and 
philosophies ;  they  have  each  Luilt  temples  and  razed 
them  to  the  ground  ;  they  have  all  grown  older,  and 
it  may  be  wiser  and  better  ;  but  when  they  search 
for  a  name  for  what  is  most  exalted  and  most  dear 
to  every  one  of  us,  when  they  wish  to  express  both 
awe  and  love,  the  infinite  and  the  finite,  they  can  but 
do  what  their  old  fathers  did,  when  gazing  up  to  the 
eternal  sky  and  feeling  the  presence  of  a  Being  as 
far  as  far,  and  as  near  as  near  can  be  :  they  can  but 
combine  the  self-same  words  and  utter  once  more 
the  primeval  Aryan  prayer,  Heaven  Father,  in  that 
form  which  will  endure  for  ever,  '  Our  Father  which 
art  in  heaven.'  "  * 

In  course  of  time,  when  men  forgot  God,  when 
they  not  only  wandered  away  from  the  cradle  of 
humanity  but  from  God  Himself,  language  became 
from  its  poverty  a  snare  to  them,  and  gradually  the 
words  and  names  applied  to  God  led  to  the  pantheons 
of  Greece  and  Eome,  and  the  other  degrading  forms 
of  worship  with  which  we  are  acquainted. 

What  we  are  chiefly  to  bear  in  mind  are  the 
spiritual  indications  which  lie  embedded  in  all  these 
varying  forms,  however  wicked  and  absurd  we  may 
in  many  respects  truly  regard  them.  And  it  will  be 
found  that  these  indications  outweio-h  a  hundred- 
fold  all  the  atheistic  appearances  which  meet  us  in 

*  Science  of  Eeligioiij  p.  172. 


8  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRnUAL  LIFE. 

history,  and  in  part  explain  tliem  ;  for  to  sucli  an 
extent  did  the  spiritual  impulse  within  drive  men  at 
times,  that  many  were  led  to  ask  if  there  could  be 
any  objective  foundation  for  such  fancies,  and  not 
being  able  to  discover  any,  and  identifying  religion 
itself  with  these  caricatures  of  it,  they  threw  it  aside 
altogether.  They  were  atheists,  therefore,  not  from 
rejecting  the  God  of  heaven  whom  they  never  knew, 
but  because  no  god  worthy  of  their  worship  was 
placed  before  them. 

We  have  now  to  look  at  the  position  assumed  by 
those  who  attempt  to  deal  scientifically  with  the  sub- 
■ject  handled  in  this  volume ;  and  these  resolve  them- 
selves, with  all  their  minor  differences,  into  two  princi- 
pal and  opposing  methods.  A  preliminary  statement, 
however,  may  be  necessary,  and  here  the  words  of 
another  are  so  applicable  that  no  apology  is  needed 
for  their  insertion  :  "In  these  our  days  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  speak  of  religion  without  giving  offence 
either  on  the  right  or  on  the  left.  With  some, 
religion  seems  too  sacred  a  subject  for  scientific 
treatment ;  with  others,  it  stands  on  a  level  with 
alchemy  and  astrology,  as  a  mere  tissue  of  errors 
or  hallucinations  ftir  beneath  the  notice  of  the  man 
of  science."*  We  have  little  in  common  with  either 
jiarty.  We  have  no  great  idea  of  the  intelligence  of 
the  man  who  cannot  see  that  there  are  religious  jTac^s, 
as  truly  facts  as  anything  which  2)hysical  science  in 
any  of  its  departments  has  to  lay  before  us.  The 
superficial  trilling  which  denies  not  only  any  given 

*  Science  of  Religion,  p.  6. 


INTRODUCTION.  .  9 

explanation  of  tliese  facts,  but  tlie  facts  tliemselves, 
can  hardly  be  mucli  longer  tolerated ;  and  in  point 
of  fact,  this  class  of  atheists  is  dying  out,  for  the 
present  at  least.  With  such  persons  we  can  hold  no 
intercourse,  for  in  the  present  treatise  there  is  no 
(rround  common  to  them  and  ourselves.  We  feel 
bound  to  take  for  granted  from  the  first  certain 
great  spiritual  facts,  which  to  our  mind  are  so 
established  that  they  can  easily  bear  all  the 
weight  of  the  superstructure  which  is  herein  raised 
upon  them. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  arc  those  who  have  a 
strange  dislike  to  any  and  every  attempt  at  dealing 
in  a  scientific  manner  with  spiritual  things,  generally 
speaking.  Such  persons  have  no  great  sympathy 
with  science  in  any  way  (they  perceive  not  that  the 
scientific  handling  of  Christian  principles  is  the  only 
true  safeguard  from  superstition  on  the  one  hand  and 
rationalism  on  the  other).  Now,  to  quiet  all  needless 
apprehensions,  we  should  say  that  truth  does  not  fear 
a  scientific  exhibition,  and  has  seldom  suffered  from 
such  a  thing.  It  may  indeed  happen  that  mistakes 
have  been  made,  and  a  grain  of  truth  may  have  led 
to  the  acceptance  of  a  cartload  of  error  ;  yet  the 
mistake  has  inevitably  been  discovered  sooner  or  later, 
and  so  shall  it  be  in  the  present  case.  If  the  exhibition 
of  truth  herein  contained  is  correct,  then  let  us  hope 
that  truth  shall  be  the  gainer ;  but  if  not  correct,  then 
let  there  be  a  full  discussion  and  ventilation  of  the 
cubject.  The  formula  ever  on  the  lips  of  such  per- 
sons is  this — viz.,   preach  the  Word,  as  if,  forsooth, 


lo  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

Christ  cannot  be  preached  in  any  way  but  that  which 
approves  itself  to  their  minds.  This  is  often  mistaken 
for  true  Christian  humility ;  but  there  is  a  humility 
which  has  the  marks  of  a  disdainful  pride  ;  and  of  all 
the  offensive  forms  in  which  pride  can  appear,  that  is 
the  worst  which  encases  itself  in  a  narrow  dogmatism. 
Blinders  may  indeed  keep  unusual  objects  from  scar- 
ing nervous  persons,  but  they  are  not  well  adapted 
for  streno-thenin<x  the  sio-ht. 

But  the  very  thing  so  much  depreciated  by  many, 
has  helped  to  preserve  intact  the  doctrines  of  Christ, 
and  has  cleared  them  time  after  time  from  the  mists 
which  threatened  to  settle  down  upon  them.  AVho, 
for  example,  needs  to  be  told  that  this  has  pre- 
eminently been  the  case  with  the  doctrine  of  Christ's 
person,  which  for  generations  formed  the  subject  of 
debate  ?  The  doctrine  is  now  seen  to  rest  on  a  sure 
foundation,  and  is  more  clearly  apprehended  than  it 
otherwise  could  have  been;  and  the  same  thing  holds 
good  in  the  case  of  other  great  doctrines  that  have 
been  discussed. 

Assaults,  moreover,  are  made  on  the  very  founda- 
tions on  which  a  scientific  exhibition  alone  can  rest, 
and  as  a  matter  of  course  the  defence  must  in  some 
measure  be  guided  by  the  mode  of  attack.  When  a 
country  is  in  danger  of  being  invaded  and  overrun  by 
the  foe,  men  do  not  cry  Peace,  peace ;  they  do  not  go 
on  cultivating  their  fields  and  enriching  the  country ; 
they,  in  preference,  burn  all  before  them,  however 
pungent  their  pangs  of  regret.  Now,  so  is  it  here ; 
we  must  go  out  to  meet  the  enemy  :   there  is  nothing 


INTR  on  UCTION.  1 1 

gained  by  concealing  tlie  fact  from  oiu'sclves  tliat 
there  is  an  enemy,  but  everything  to  be  lost  by  so 
doino-.  Let  us  then  take  what  vantao^e-oxound  we 
may,  not  indeed  so  much  concerned  about  victory  as 
about  truth,  yet,  persuaded  that  ours  is  the  cause  of 
truth,  let  us  do  what  we  can  to  strengthen  it.  More- 
over, it  is  well  that  men  should  know  that  Christianit}'^ 
is  capable  of  being  scientifically  defended.  There  are 
many,  not  thoughtless  persons,  who  strangely  enough 
take  their  views  of  religion  from  others,  and  think 
that  it  cannot  be  defended  in  the  manner  indicated. 
We  may  be  astonished  why  men  should  do  so,  but 
there  are  many  things  not  readily  accounted  for ; 
hence  it  is  our  duty  to  show  such  men,  if  possible, 
that  they  are  in  error,  and  in  this  way  lead  them  to 
a  healthful  profession  of  faith,  or  leave  them  without 
excuse  in  holding  by  their  second-hand  and  false  views 
of  Christianity. 

Among  those  who  in  one  way  or  another  aim  at 
presenting  a  scientific  explanation  or  exhibition  of 
spiritual  life  there  are  many  differences — varieties,  we 
would  say,  but  bound  together  by  some  differentia 
which  constitutes  them  species,  separate  and  distinct. 
The  first  method  we  would  refer  to  is  that  adopted 
by  the  entire  schc-ol  spoken  of  as  evolutionists.  At 
the  head  of  this  school,  in  England  at  least,  stand 
Darwin,  Huxley,  Tyndall,  Spencer,  and  a  host  of 
lesser  stars — men  who  in  some  way  happen  to  domi- 
nate the  British  Association  and  a  portion  of  the 
London  press.  They  constitute  what  Principal 
M'Cosh  rather  facetiously  has  designated  a  branch  of 


12  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

tliat  hackneyed  club  known  all  over  tlie  world  as 
the  Mutual  Admiration  Society,  inasmuch  as  they 
are  never  weary  in  quoting  each  other  as  infallible 
authorities.  These  authorities  may  not  all  be  satis- 
fied at  beino;  reo;arded  as  advancintr  a  scientific  basis 
on  which  to  exhibit  Sj)iritual  life,  but,  with  all  the 
nescience  of  their  theories  anent  spiritual  things,  this 
is  precisely  what  they  are  doing. 

It  is  not  affirmed  that  these  scientists  present  such 
a  basis  as  a  Christian  can  adopt  ;  on  the  contrary, 
grant  their  assumptions,  and  the  whole  superstructure 
of  Christianity  falls  to  the  ground.  But  for  all  that, 
these  men,  one  and  all,  affirm  the  existence  of  religious 
feelings,  though  they  are  much  exercised  over  their 
explanation.  AVith  one  consent,  hoAvever,  they  rele- 
c;ate  them  into  the  reoion  of  the  dark  unknown  and 
unknowable.  According  to  Tyndall,  physical  science 
cannot  explain  them,  but  yet  physical  science,  as  being 
the  most  enlightened  guide,  is  entitled  to  the  direction 
of  these  feelings.  But  as  confessedly  physical  science 
does  not  lead  np  to  God,  then,  nnless  our  religious 
feelings  do  not  lead  to  God,  science  must  wrongly 
direct  them.  If  these  aspirations  do  lead  upwards, 
common  sense  surely  tells  ns  that  they  should  be 
nnder  no  such  dominion  as  the  Professor  indicates. 
The  truth  is,  relio-ious  feclintr  is  a  centre  of  force 
which  Dr.  Tyndall  does  not  well  know  how  to  manage, 
and  he  does  the  best  he  can  in  setting  a  physical- 
science  conscience  over  it.  J.  S.  jMill  in  his  essay  on 
"  The  Utility  of  Eeligion"  ascribes  the  great  power 
which  religious  feelinir  seems  to  exert  to  the  force  of 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

education,  and  his  impression  seems  to  have  been  at 
that  time — though  he  appears  to  have  changed  his 
mind  afterwards — that  the  worhl  would  have  got  on 
rather  better  without  religion  than  with  it.  The  feel- 
ings themselves,  like  everything  else,  he  would  resolve 
by  his  universal  power — inseparable  association. 

In  general  the  disciples  of  this  school  are  more 
reticent,  not  indeed  that  they  want  the  courage  of 
their  opinions,  but  they  seldom  come  to  speak  directly 
on  this  point,  though  they  clearly  indicate  the  current 
of  their  thouo-hts.  Huxlev  is  cautious  when  in  his 
review  of  Comptism  he  says — in  reply  to  the  ques- 
tion, "  Does  human  nature  possess  any  free,  volitional, 
or  truly  anthropomorphic  element,  or  is  it  only  the 
cunnino;est  of  all  nature's  clocks  ? — Some,  amonof 
whom  I  count  myself,  think  that  the  battle  will  for 
ever  remain  a  drawn  one,  and  that  for  all  23ractical 
pur230ses  this  result  is  as  good  as  anthropomorphism 
winning  the  day."  '" 

Mr.  Spencer  resolves,  as  is  well  known,  all  our 
necessary  beliefs  in  a  way  which  he  and  some  others 
regard  as  more  satisfactory  than  Mr.  Mill's  law  of 
inseparable  association,  which,  by  the  way,  is  no 
longer  felt  to  be  tenable.  Mr.  Spencer  adds  heredi- 
tary experience  to  the  experience  of  the  individual  ; 
in  short,  these  necessary  beliefs  have  been  in  process 
of  formation  since  man  was  a  monad.  This  author 
generously  allocates  the  entire  domain  of  the  unknown 
and  unknowable  to  the  relio-ious  element  in  man :  if 
it  confines  itself  to  this  he  will  not  meddle  with  it, 

*  Lay  Sermons,  &c.,  p.  164. 


14  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

and  ill  tliat  region  it  niav  find  sometliinof  to  feed 
upon.  But,  as  M'Cosli  j)ertinently  asks,  "  Avhy  does 
lie  exclude  a  necessary  belief  in  the  existence  of  tbe 
unknown  and  unknowable,  or  absolute  and  uncon- 
ditioned," from  the  sweep  of  the  law  aforesaid  ? 
may  such  a  belief  not  be  generated  by  the  race 
ever  coraino:  to  the  knowleds^e  of  somethino-  hitherto 
unknown  ?  Let  us  listen  to  a  few  sentences  of  this 
bleak  and  barren  synthetic  philosophy :  "  It  must 
be  remembered  that  while  the  connection  between  the 
2)henomenal  order  and  the  ontological  is  for  ever 
inscrutable,  so  is  the  connection  between  the  con- 
ditioned form  of  beino;  and  the  unconditioned  form 
of  being  for  ever  inscrutable.  The  interpretation  of 
all  phenomena  in  terms  of  Matter,  Motion,  and  Force 
is  nothing  more  than  the  reduction  of  our  complete 
symbols  of  thought  to  the  simplest  symbols ;  and 
Avlien  the  equation  has  been  brought  down  to  its 
lowest  terms,  the  symbols  remain  symbols  still ; 
hence  the  reasonino^s  contained  in  the  foreiroino- 
pages  afford  no  support  to  either  of  the  antagonistic 
hypotheses  respecting  the  ultimate  nature  of  things. 
"Jlieir  implications  are  no  more  materialistic  than  they 
are  spiritualistic.  Any  argument  which  is  aj^parently 
furnished  to  either  hypothesis  is  neutralised  by  as 
good  an  argument  furnislied  to  the  other.  .  .  . 
He  "  (the  man  who  understands  his  book)  "  will  see 
that  though  the  relation  of  subject  and  object  renders 
necessary  to  us  these  antithetical  conceptions  of 
spirit  and  matter,  the  one  is  no  less  than  the  other 
to  be  regarded  as  but  a  sign  of  the  unknown  reality 


INTR  OD  UCTION.  1 5 

wliicli  underlies  botli."  *  This  is  Mr.  Spencer  at 
best,  but  alas  !  lie  rides  away  from  us  on  a  nebulous 
cloud,  know-nothingness,  into  a  region  whither  we 
are  unable  to  follow  him,  no'  being  assured  that  it 
has  any  existence  at  all. 

The  method,  then,  adopted  by  this  school  may  be 
called  hypothetical,  and  it  resolves  itself  into  this — 
viz.,  within  the  domain  of  the  knowable  there  is  no 
evidence  for  the  existence  of  a  God — in  point  of  fact, 
there  is  no  God  ;  but  if  beyond  that  sphere  there  is 
anything,  which  is  unknown  and  unknowable,  that 
may  be  God,  and  the  religious  element  of  our  beiiig, 
on  the  principle  of  sufficient  reason,  may  be  allowed 
to  connect  us  in  some  mysterious  way  with  this 
unconditioned  unknowable  Beino;.  This  is  wanted 
only  because  it  is  impossible  meanwhile  to  find  any 
other  more  tangible  place  for  such  feelings. 

It  may  fairly  be  questioned  how  long  this  fai;it 
recognition  of  a  Supreme  Power  will  hold  its  own 
among  an  English-speaking  jiopulation  who  may  be 
led  to  entertain  it.  A  basis  of  reliixious  life  such  as 
this  will  not  long  be  respected  by  a  fearlessly  logical 
mind,  and  the  feelings  themselves,  along  with  their 
basis,  must  soon  come  to  grief.  A  God  unknown  and 
unknowable,  who  neither  hears  nor  heeds  our  cries,  is 
for  all  practical  purposes  no  God,  and  a  later  genera- 
tion will  soon  find  this  out.  There  is  small  chance 
of  the  rising  race  of  thinkers  in  this  school  respect- 
ino-  such  a  flimsv  barrier  raised  between  them  and 
Atheism.     They  will  rather  imitate  the  more   consis- 

*  Biology,  i.  491,  492. 


1 6  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

tent  Germans,  wlio  even  now  look  upon  all  sucli 
tilings  as  slieer  sentiment  and  want  of  courage.  May 
tlie  God  of  lieaven  defend  us  from  sucli  a  consumma- 
tion ! 

Indeed,  if  Dr.  Tyndall  is  to  be  regarded  as  tlie 
interpreter  of  liis  school,  there  is  obviously  a  move- 
ment in  the  camp  of  the  Materialists — they  are  finding 
their  ground  insecure  and  are  abandonino:  their  stronsf- 
holds  of  a  pure  Materialism.  In  his  preface  to  his 
last  edition  of  his  "  Fragments  of  Science,"  he  says 
that  by  matter  he  does  not  mean  mere  atoms  and 
motion  and  force,  but  a  certain  something  which  can 
and  does  produce  all  the  phenomena  of  the  world — 
the  basis  of  all  phenomena  or  all  potentiality — a  for- 
mative force. 

We  may  well  ask  of  him.  What  is  this  certain 
something^ — this  basis  of  phenomena — this  formative 
force  ?  and  until  he  gives  an  intelligiljle  definition, 
a  definite  idea  of  his  meaning,  we  must  hold  him  as 
falling  back  upon  pantheism  or  advancing  to  spirit- 
ualism. This  he  makes  the  more  ajDparent  by  his 
concession  that  he  cannot  conceive  of  how  life  can  be 
develoj^ed  from  the  lifeless,  or  how  consciousness  can 
1)0  evolved  out  of  j)hysical  organisation. 

We  have  shown  in  chapter  xiii.  that  matter  can- 
not be  the  basis  of  all  phenomena.  In  that  chapter 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  recognised  proportions  of 
matter  can  by  no  effort  of  reason  or  flight  of  imagi- 
nation be  predicated  of  mind  or  spirit.  The  attributes 
of  spirit  are  there  shown  to  be  the  very  reverse  of 
the  properties  of  matter.     The  Professor's  notion  of 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

matter  is  too  vague  and  general,  as  also  his  idea  of 
it  as  a  formative  force,  to  be  of  any  scientific  value. 
Force  is  formative  in  its  crystallising  and  vital  power, 
but  is  it  nothing  more  in  its  mental  and  spiritual 
operations  ? 

Formative  force  in  its  crystallising  operations  is 
doubtless  a  develo^Ding  or  evolving  power,  but  is  it 
such  jyer  se  ?  In  its  vitalising  operations  it  is  a  select- 
ing power ;  in  its  rational  oj^erations  it  is  an  outgoing 
power  ;  and  formative  force  in  its  S|)iritual  operations 
is  a  combining,  reflecting,  self-approving,  or  self- 
condemning,  an  advising  or  dreading  power. 

What  kind  of  consciousness  may  be  in  a  plant  we 
cannot  imagine,  but  we  know  that  consciousness  in 
man  is  the  most  vivid  realitv  of  his  existence.  When 
we  enter  this  region  of  human  experience  we  cannot 
escape  its  clear  and  definite  teaching ;  and  thus  we 
are  not  surprised  that  the  Professor,  leaving  for  a 
moment  his  material  speculations,  and  entering  into 
the  realisations  of  his  inner  life,  should  come  out  with 
the  declaration  that  in  the  phenomena  of  conscious- 
ness we  find  the  rock  on  which  materialism  must 
inevitably  split  when  it  pretends  to  be  a  complete 
philosophy  of  the  human  mind. 

No  complete  philosophy  of  human  life  can  overlook 
the  phenomena  of  consciousness,  and  no  comprehensive 
science  can  refuse  to  investio;ate  the  character  of  such 
phenomena ;  and  the  scientific  investigator  of  such 
will  find  no  difficulty  in  perceiving  that  the 
phenomena  of  consciousness  can  never  be  unquestion- 
ably regarded  as  the  phenomena  of  mere  formative 

B 


i8  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

force.  In  volition,  conscience,  self-approbation,  self- 
condemnation,  adoration  or  dread,  are  tlie  operations 
"of  mere  formative  force;  a  minute  analysis  of  these, 
not  to  speak  of  others,  will  unmistakably  show  that 
there  certainly  are  in  man  what  can  never  be  regarded 
as  the  phenomena  of  mere  formative  force. 

It  is  time,  however,  to  draw  attention  to  the  other 
method  of  dealing  with  this  great  subject.  This 
which  we  may  call  the  Christological  method  is 
spiritual  in  the  highest  degree ;  it  enters  into  no 
complicated  and  dark  reasoning  anent  the  essential 
nature  of  substance,  nor  does  it  concern  itself  about 
metaphysical  subtleties  regarding  the  unknown  and 
unknowable.  Strangely  enough,  it  is  those  who  raise, 
and  would  perplex  themselves  and  us  with  such 
questions,  that  accuse  religionists  of  dealing  in 
subtleties ;  but  surely  the  religion  of  Jesus  comes 
to  us  like  springs  in  the  desert  after  the  sterility  and 
death  of  cosmism  as  evolutionists  call  their  system  ; 
but  a  cosmism  in  which  the  soul,  weary  with  the 
burden  of  sin,  and  seeking  rest,  can  see  neither  order 
nor  beauty.  This  method  postulates  a  personal  God 
as  one  of  its  most  fundamental  ideas,  indeed  as  tlie 
fundamental  idea — a  God  who  is  not  only  distinct  from 
nature  but  above  nature^its  Creator  and  Preserver. 
This  method  of  which  we  approve  rej^udiates  alike 
2)antheism,  atheism,  and  all  such  bastard  ideas  as 
represent  God  as  an  unknown  something,  if  we  may 
even  use  the  term  something  to  what  is  indefinitely 
near  to  nothing.  It  further  encourages  us  to  look  up 
and  say,  "  Our  Father  v»dio  art  in  heaven."      In  this 


INTR  on  UCTION.  1 9 

method  a  place  is  found  for  all  bygone  aspirations 
after  God,  and  a  good  reason  is  assigned  for  them. 
These  have  all  along  been  what  we  should  have 
expected  from  those  who  have  been  made  in  the 
image  of  God,  bnt  have  left  their  first  estate,  and 
no  longer  enjoy  the  good  after  which  their  spirits 
yearn. 

In  all  ao-es  and  conditions  of  his  beino;  man  has 
been  striving  after  the  realisation  of  the  Divine 
impressed  on  him  at  first,  and  nothing  short  of  a 
Godlike  life  can  satisfy  the  craving  which  he  feels. 
Explain  it  as  we  may,  man  is  restless,  ever  striving 
after  what  is  bej^ond,  forgetting  what  is  behind  ;  in 
his  best  moods  he  is  ever  reaching  forward  to  what 
lies  before  him,  and  every  step  gained  is  but  the 
precursor  to  a  further  attempt.  In  this  sense  we 
recognise  a  glorious  evolution,  a  development  which 
is  ever  going  forward,  not  from  the  pressure  of 
environment  but  from  the  j^ower  that  dwells  within. 
Here  there  is  no  transmutation  of  species,  but  a  per- 
fecting of  the  species  in  a  higher  life,  the  spirit  of 
God  becoming  the  spirit  of  man's  spirit. 

Mere  man-life  is  evidently  imperfect, — the  highest 
forms  of  it  with  which  we  are  acquainted  were 
anything  but  satisfied  with  themselves.  Even  our 
progenitors,  when  they  had  all  that  in  their  circum- 
stances they  could  reasonably  need,  are  represented  as 
not  satisfied  with  themselves  or  the  position  in  which 
they  were  placed,  and  so  in  striving  to  rise  above  it, 
they  fell  far  below  even  the  possibilities  of  man-life. 
And  thus  has  it  happened  in  the  case  of  all  the  efforts 


20  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIIE. 

put  fortli  by  meu  for  tlie  furtlieriiig  of  their  spiritual 
interests.  The  smoke  of  countless  victims  that 
ascended  from  ten  thousand  altars,  the  penances, 
the  indefinite,  perhaps  indefinable,  longings  of 
heathenism  all  indicate  disquietude  and  discontent 
with  the  life  man  was  living,  and  his  desire  to  escape  at 
least  into  another  state  which  they  imagined  to  be 
better  ;  but  their  attempts  ever  ended  in  miserable 
failure ;  they  ofttimes  made  bad  worse,  and  were 
never  able  to  free  those  who  made  them  from  their 
entanglements. 

When  we  examine  these  attempts  in  a  sympa- 
thising spirit,  realising  that  those  who  made  them 
were  men  like  ourselves,  that  they  felt  the  sorrows 
of  life  as  we  do,  and  were  walled  in  on  either  hand 
by  the  thick  impenetrable  darkness  which  hung 
around  them,  without  a  glimpse  of  the  light  and 
immortality  which  are  our  inheritance,  we  feel  a 
sinking  of  heart ;  in  their  own  way  they  Avere  groping 
about  for  God,  like  as  blind  men  grope  for  the  wall, 
and  yet  they  could  not  attain  to  Him,  though  He  was 
not  far  from  them.  Our  deepest  interest  is  con- 
centrated on  these  men ;  when  we  thus  regard  them 
they  are  brought  near  to  our  hearts ;  whereas, 
looked  at  as  they  too  often  are,  they  are  separated 
from  us  by  the  entire  diameter  of  feeling.  AVhen, 
however,  we  do  them  justice  and  bring  them  near  to 
us,  and  as  far  as  possible  try  to  put  ourselves  in 
their  position,  we  get  a  glimpse  of  where  and  how  far 
they  went  astray. 

Change,  restless  change,  was  the  motto  inscribed  on 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

their  inner  life,  hope  in  pursuit  of  some  mirage 
alternating  with  despair  when  it  was  found  that 
their  hopes  were  not  to  be  realised.  In  earlier  stages 
monotheism  was  tried,  but  soon  degenerated  into 
polytheism,  Avith  occasional  outbursts  of  atheism ; 
but  the  result  was  ever  the  same — Avild  unrest  and 
feverish  anxiety  for  fresh  change,  that  they 
might  secure  the  good  they  did  not  feel,  but  which 
they  rightly  enough  judged  to  exist  ;  and  in  their 
strivings,  strange  to  say,  they  lighted  upon  many 
deep  spiritual  truths.  But  why  should  we  say  that 
this  is  strange,  when  Ave  reflect  that  their  nature  Avas 
spiritual,  and  CA^er  striving  after  the  realisation  of 
these  very  truths  ?  In  confirmation  of  this,  look,  for 
example,  at  Buddhism,  a  system  effete  and  material- 
istic to  its  very  core.  A  competent  authority  says  : 
"  Buddhism  has  no  God,  it  has  not  CA^en  the  con- 
fused and  A\ague  notion  of  a  universal  spirit,  in  AA'hich 
the  human  soul,  according  to  the  orthodox  doctrine 
of  Brahmanism  and  the  Sanklya  philosophy,  may  be 
absorbed.  ...  It  confounds  man  with  all  that 
surrounds  him,  all  the  while  preaching  to  him  the 
laws  of  virtue.  Buddhism,  therefore,  cannot  unite 
the  human  soul,  Avhich  it  does  not  CA^en  mention,  Avith 
a  God  AA'hom  it  ignores,  nor  Avith  Nature,  which  it 
does  not  knoAV  better." '"  This  matter  is  painfully 
brought  before  us  by  Max  Miiller,  when  he  somcAvhat 
mournfully  and  truly  says  :  "  In  no  religion  are  Ave 
so  constantly  reminded  of  our  OAvn  as  in  Budd- 
liism,  and  yet  in  no  religion  has  man  been  drawn 

*  M.  Barthelemy  Saint-Helaire,  quoted  by  Miiller,  vol.  ccliv.  chap.  i. 


22  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

away  so  far  from  tlie  truth  as  iii  tlic  religion  of 
Bucldlia.  Buddhism  and  Christianity  are  indeed  the 
two  opposite  poles  with  regard  to  the  most  essential 
points  of  religion — Buddhism  ignoring  all  feeling 
of  dependence  on  a  higher  power,  and,  therefore, 
denying  the  very  existence  of  a  Supreme  Deity ; 
Christianity  resting  entirely  on  a  belief  in  God  as  the 
Father,  in  the  Son  of  man  as  the  Son  of  God,  and 
making  us  all  children  of  God  by  faith  in  His  Son. 
Yet  between  the  language  of  Buddha  and  his  disciples, 
and  the  language  of  Christ  and  His  apostles,  there 
are  strano-e  coincidences.  Even  some  of  the  Buddhist 
legends  and  parables  sound  as  if  taken  from  the 
New  Testament,  though  we  know  that  many  of 
them  existed  before  the  beoinninsc  of  the  Christian 
era."^' 

From  all  this  we  may  learn  how  imperative  even 
truth  itself  is,  when  not  applied  to  the  sinful  heart 
by  the  agency  which  has  been  provided  by  God,  to 
apply  the  benefits  of  Christ's  redem^^tion  to  the  souls 
of  believers. 

We  see  here  where   these  io-iiorers  of  God  turned 

o 

aside  into  a  wrong  path,  for,  first,  as  mighty  waters 
let  loose  spread  desolation  far  and  wide  over  fertile 
fields,  but  gathered  together  into  a  fitting  channel 
carry  fertilising  influences  along  with  them,  as  they 
descend  to  furnish  a  way  for  trade  and  commerce, 
and  the  necessities  of  civilisation  and  advancement ; 
so  the  religious  element  in  man  when  ill  directed 
is  a   source  of  woe,  but  confined  to  its  proper  bed  is 

*  Science  of  Religion,  pp.  242,  243. 


INTR  on  UCTION.  23 

the  source  of  the  greatest  bliss  that  man  can 
experience  on  the  earth. 

Tlie  Christian  doctrine — a  doctrine  shadowed  fortli 
under  the  Mosaic  dispensation — is  this,  viz.,  that  man 
escapes  from  his  felt  imperfection  Ijy  an  exaltation 
of  human  nature,  and  that  this  exaltation  is  realised 
in  union  and  communion  with  a  nature  higher  than 
his  own.  In  this  exaltation  human  nature  remains 
unmodified,  it  is  still  the  same,  just  as  gold  is  still 
gold  after  it  has  been  subjected  to  a  purifying  process. 
It  is  w^ell  known  how  companionships  affect  men, 
raising  or  deteriorating  them,  and  what  happens  thus 
daily  before  our  eyes,  takes  place  in  a  higher  sphere 
when  the  companionship  of  God  is  realised  in  the 
soul.  In  this  case,  there  is  no  more  than  in  the 
former  any  confounding  of  the  persons  or  lives.  The 
soul  does  not  become  the  dead  conduit,  but  is  the 
living,  loving  exponent  of  the  Divine,  and  finds  the 
virtue  of  its  very  constitution,  its  highest  perfection, 
in  union  and  communion  with  God. 

In  the  foregoing  we  may  find  something  which 
goes  a  little  way,  perhaps,  to  explain  that  monstrosity 
called  pantheism.  Pantheism,  we  opine,  is  little  else 
than  the  shadow  cast  by  the  deep  indefinable  feeling, 
that  man  is  only  perfect  in  God.  ]\[en  may  begin 
by  reasoning  about  the  absolute  and  unconditioned, 
and  land  in  pantheism ;  but  it  cannot  be  their 
reasonings  about  matters  which,  from  their  very 
nature,  are  confessedly  unknown,  that  land  them  in 
such  conclusions.  There  cannot  be  any  real  connec- 
tion between  premises  and  conclusions,  and  we  are 


24  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

perforce  driven  to  find  tlie  true  explanation  in  some- 
tliing  more  tangible.  Man  cannot  stand  apart  from 
God ;  tlie  feebleness  of  bis  spirit  shows  itself  in  bis 
very  yearning  after  sometbing  on  wbicb  be  may  rest 
and  call  God.  Pantheism  is  a  weak,  mad  plunge 
into  tbis  as  soon  as  a  man  bas  found  it ;  it  is 
fundamentally  a  sickly  cast  of  tbougbt.  True  religion 
is  more  manly ;  it  bolds  by  individuality,  not  in 
O2:»position  to  tlie  God  wbicb  it  finds,  but  because  it 
feels  tbat  tbere  can  be  no  contradiction  between  its 
dependence  on  God  and  God's  good  pleasure,  tbat  it 
should  always  be  distinct  from  Himself. 

Tbere  is,  perhaps,  no  religious  error  which  has  not 
some  true  point  of  departure  ;  and  because  it  is  so,  men 
are  aj^t  to  become  increasingly  perplexed  when,  from 
any  cause,  they  are  unwilling  to  apj^roach  the  subject 
of  religion  with  a  spirit  of  deep  reverence.  Self- 
satisfaction  is  a  blinding  power  in  any  case,  but 
most  of  all  in  reliofious  search.  The  self-sufficient 
man  need  not  begin  the  study  of  the  religious 
problems  of  his  life,  bis  self-conceit  is  like  a  bandage 
of  many  folds  bound  over  bis  eyes — he  can  only  in 
such  a  case  furnish  another  illustration  of  the  fiict, 
tbat  not  many  wise  men  after  the  flesh  are  chosen  as 
interpreters  of  God's  ways ;  with  men  it  is  only  the 
man  who  will  do  His  will  that  can  know  of  the 
doctrine  whether  it  be  of  God. 

In  Christianity,  the  exaltation  of  which  we. have 
spoken  as  the  door  of  escape  from  man's  unrest, 
it  is  union  and  communion  with  God,  through 
union    and    communion   with    one   who   is    at   once 


INTR  on  UCTION.  2  5 

God  and  man.  The  great  object  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  Jcsiis  is  to  set  forth  such  truths  as  shall 
throw  light  xv^qvl  the  condition  of  humanity.  It 
homologates  its  aspirations,  it  explains  the  mysteries 
which  ever  haunt  man's  weary  footsteps,  and  in  the 
scheme  of  redemption  it  opens  up  a  Avay  of  escape  to 
the  embrace  of  a  loving  Father,  at  whose  right  hand 
there  are  pleasures  for  evermore.  And  it  leaves  us 
standing,  fondly,  desiringly,  looking  into  the  vista 
of  the  future,  in  the  full  persuasion  that  by  and  by 
there  shall  arise  out  of  the  ashes  of  a  purified  world  a 
lovelier  paradise  than  that  from  which  our  progenitors 
were  driven. 

"  There  happier  bowers  than  Eden's  bloom, 
Nor  sin,  nor  sorrow  Ivuow  ; 
Blest  seats,  through  rude  and  stormy  scenes, 
I  omvard  press  to  you." 


CHAPTER  I. 

MAN  A    RELIGIOUS   BEING,    IN  AN   IRRELIGIOUS   EFFORT 
AND  HAPLESS   CONDITION. 

It  is  now  generally  conceded  that  man  is  a  religions 
being.  The  import  of  the  religious  clement,  the 
direction  in  which  it  points,  and  as  a  consequence, 
the  nature  of  the  obligation  under  which  it  lays  us, 
are  constantly  giving  rise  to  its  discussion.  But  of 
the  fact  itself,  that  man  is  a  religious  being,  no 
serious  difficulty  of  opinion  now  exists  among 
reflectinG:  men. 

Among  devoutly  religious  men,  the  most  profound 
and  accurate  thinkers  believe,  and  have  tried  to 
establish  the  fact,  that  man  is  a  religious  being, 
because  he  is  j)Ossessed  of  a  God-conscious  faculty, 
the  direct  function  of  which  is  to  gaze  upon  God ; 
and  therefore  they  conclude  that  he  is  religious  just 
as  he  is  a  social  or  a  sentient  being. 

It  is,  however,  no  less  clear  that  there  is  a  conflict 
in  human  nature — a  struggle  between  what  are 
regarded  as  the  higher  and  lower  powers  and 
capacities  of  man's  being ; — in  other  words,  man 
possesses  a  religious  nature  which  is  involved  in  an 
irreligious   strife ;    and   this    condition  of   things  we 


MAN  A  RELIGIOUS  BEING.  27 

believe  goes  far  to   explain  many  of  the  varied  and 
perplexing  phenomena  of  man's  life. 

Man  everywhere,  and  in  all  ages,  has  had  an  impres- 
sion of  a  Power  above  him,  and  of  his  standing  to  that 
Power  in  a  relation  of  responsibility.  This  impression, 
it  is  true,  in  certain  individuals  may  be  so  faint  as 
hardly  to  be  discernible  to  the  individual  himself,  or  to 
the  student  of  man's  nature,  however  keen  his  search, 
yet  will  it  ever  be  found  that  time  and  the  requisite 
circumstances  are  capable  of  unfolding  it  to  the  full 
consciousness  of  all  concerned. 

Man  is  not  only  aware  of  a  sense  of  obligation  to 
the  Power  above  him,  he  is  made  to  realise  that  this 
sense  of  obligation  is  the  deepest  and  most  endur- 
ing consciousness  of  his  life.  In  the  felt  presence 
of  this  Power,  he  can  be  satisfied  with  himself  only 
in  as  fiir  as  he  is  able  to  persuade  himself  that  his 
deeds  are  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  that 
Power,  and  his  life  acceptable  to  it.  Every  man 
knows,  that  although  the  religious  impressions 
and  convictions  of  his  mind  are  not  at  all  times 
in  the  most  effective  condition,  they  are  the  most 
powerful  and  enduring  of  his  nature ;  for  should 
he  in  the  moment  of  temptation  disregard  the 
authority  of  his  conscience,  and  do  Avhat  he  feels 
he  ought  not  to  do,  yet  will  conscience  reassert  her 
authority,  dash  the  cup  of  pleasure  from  his  lips,  and 
make  him  feel  humiliated  in  the  consciousness  of 
havino^  done  what  he  felt  he  oug^ht  not  to  have  done. 
And  although  some  men  may  become  so  brutalised 
as    utterly   to   disregard    conscience,     they   do     not 


28  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

tlioreby  extiipate  it  from  tlieir  nature,  tliey  only 
a,d(.l  to  its  condemning  power,  when  at  length,  like 
a  subterranean  fire,  it  upheaves  the  heavy  load 
under  which,  intentionally  or  unintentionally,  they 
have  buried  it. 

This  sense  of  obligation  to  the  Divine  is  not  only 
the  deepest  and  most  enduring  consciousness  of  man's 
life ;  but,  side  by  side  with  it,  the  yearning  after  God 
in  the  spirit  of  man  is  the  first  and  most  indestructiljle 
craving  of  his  soul.  The  necessity  for  the  indwelling 
of  God  in  the  spirit  of  man,  is  the  most  urgent  and 
irrepressible  requirement  of  his  well-being.  Man 
apart  from  God  cannot  but  feel  that  he  is  unable 
to  meet  the  underlying  necessity  of  his  nature  ;  for 
should  he,  in  the  pursuit  of  his  own  ends,  attain  to 
all  that  his  heart  can  desire  of  earth's  possessions, 
still,  if  his  religious  cravings  be  not  met,  these 
cravings  cause  him  to  realise  that  he  possesses  not 
all  that  he  needs.  A  religious  nature  can  rest  only 
in  a  religious  life,  and  capacity  for  the  indwelling  of 
the  Divine  necessitates  the  presence,  of  God  in 
the  soul  in  order  to  its  permanent  enjoyment.  The 
void  spirit  of  man  can  no  more  repose  in  the  desertion 
of  God,  than  can  the  feeling  of  thirst  be  satisfied 
without  water ;  and  as  soon  may  the  body  burning 
with  fever  enjoy  the  harmony  and  comfort  of  health, 
as  the  spirit  of  man  while  animated  by  the  diabolic 
enjoy  repose. 

And  when  once  the  idea  of  religion  takes  possession 
of  the  mind  of  a  man,  that  man  cannot  let  the  subject 
of  religion  alone, — he  must  either  place  himself  in 


MAN  A  RELIGIOUS  BEING.  "29 

opposition  to  all  religion,  or  struggle  to  satisfy  liim- 
self  with  some  of  the  false  forms  of  religion  that 
exist,  or  he  must  find  his  satisfaction  from  repose 
in  the  true, 

Man  is  thus  a  religious  being,  possessed  of  a 
religious  nature,  yearning  after  a  higher  condition  of 
a  religious  life,  and  striving  to  attain  to  the  end  of 
his  existence,  in  putting  forth  an  effort  to  unite 
himself  with  the  Infinite  and  Eternal.  Man  is 
capable  of  the  indwelling  of  the  Divine,  he  is  gifted 
with  powers  susceptible  of  entering  into  fellowship 
with  God,  he  is  capable  of  religious  impressions,  he  is 
the  subject  of  religious  aspirations  and  desires.  He 
readily  engages  in  religious  efforts,  and  ever  worships 
what  he  conceives  to  be  the  proper  object  of  admira- 
tion. He  has  longings  which  can  be  met  only  in 
God.  He  realises  the  perfection  of  his  life  in  a  true 
likeness  to  God,  and  he  can  rest  satisfied  only  when 
God  dwells  in  his  heart. 

While  this  is  true,  as  already  indicated,  man  is  at 
the  same  time  a  relio^ious  beinir  in  a  fallen  condition 
of  life.  The  God-conscious  faculty  of  his  spirit  is 
insensible,  like  the  organ  of  breathiug  in  the  foetus, 
it  has  no  action  until  he  is  "  born  ao;ain."  In  his 
unreofenerate  state  man  has  no  immediate  vision  of 
God,  no  fellowship  with  his  Father  in  heaven.  He 
is  averse  to  God,  and  strives  to  live  without  Him 
in  the  world. 

Man's  impression  of  the  Power  above  him,  and 
of  his  responsibility  to  that  Power,  docs  not  draw 
him  near  in  holy  love  and  obedience  to  his  Father, 


30  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

that  he  may  receiv^e  tlie  supplies  of  tlie  Divine 
necessary  to  meet  the  wants  of  his  nature,  and  to  de- 
velop the  constitution  of  his  being.  This  impression 
of  a  Power  above  liim  rather  leads  man  to  endeavour, 
by  means  of  sacrifice,  penance,  and  supp)lication,  to 
propitiate  that  Power.  This  impression  exists  in 
its  truest  condition  while  in  its  faintest  form,  for 
Avhen  it  is  unfolded  in  the  human  mind,  irres2:)ective 
of  the  light  of  revelation,  it  is  developed  in  erroneous 
conceptions  of  the  human,  and  in  false  and  perj^lexing 
notions  of  the  Divine.  The  experience  of  heathen- 
ism, the  degenerating  tendency  of  idolatry  in  man, 
the  results  of  human  speculation,  the  doctrines  of  the 
different  schools  of  philosophy,  and  the  tenets  of  tlie 
many  sects  in  religion,  exhibit  the  truth  of  this 
statement.  In  fact,  wherever  this  impression  has 
been  unfolded  in  the  human  heart,  apart  from  the 
influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  it  has  always  developed 
itself  in  impious  feelings  towards  God.  The  facts  of 
heathen  sacrifice,  the  endeavour  of  man  in  all  ages  to 
propitiate  God,  to  alter  His  disposition,  and  change 
His  jmrpose  towards  sinners,  sufticiently  establishes 
and  illustrates  the  truth  of  this  assertion. 

The  cherishino;  of  such  desire  in  the  human  heart 
shows  that  man  has  fallen  from,  and  is  striving  to 
live  beneath,  the  conditions  of  his  own  wellbeing. 
God,  in  His  infinite  wisdom  and  benevolence,  could 
never  have  created  man  to  desire  that  God  would  be, 
and  do  differently  from  what  God  Himself  is  and 
does.  Tliis  would  have  been  to  have  created  man  in 
a    condition    of    conflict    with    the    principles    and 


MAN  A  RELIGIOUS  BEING.  31 

oLligations  of  liis  nature,  tlie  necessities  of  liis 
spiritual  life,  and  with  the  terms  of  his  fellowship 
with  and  enjoyment  of  God.  Man,  by  cherishing  the 
desires  of  his  natural  heart,  necessarily  places  himself 
in  opposition  to  God,  and  removes  himself  from  Him, 
acts  in  composition  to  the  deep  necessities  and  immut- 
able condition  of  his  own  wellbeing ;  and  therefore 
he  cannot  be  at  peace  with  God,  nor  act  in  harmony 
with  the  requirements  of  his  nature. 

Human  experience  shows  that  man's  sense  of 
obli2:ation  is  of  no  direct  avail  to  him  in  his  natural 
state  for  the  discharge  of  his  duty.  It  affords  him 
no  means  of  ascertaining]:  what  is  riirht  from  what  is 
wrong.  On  this  all-important  point,  men  from  the 
beo-inninoj  have  differed.  Man  has  no  knowledofe  of 
right  in  the  abstract,  conscience  can  only  approve 
when  he  acts  in  accordance  with,  and  condemns  when 
he  wills  in  opposition  to,  his  judgment.  Hence  one 
community  and  one  age  has  approved  what  another 
has  denied.  Conscience,  moreover,  has  not  that 
supremacy  in  man's  life  to  which  it  is  entitled,  it  is  a 
dethroned  monarch  ;  when  passion  rises  conscience  does 
not  rule,  but  is  suffered  merely  to  warn  or  threaten. 
When  assailed  with  temptation  man  does  not 
immediately  and  unhesitatingly  dismiss  the  temjDter, 
but  dallies  with  the  temptation,  and  by  so  doing  falls 
before  its  power.  In  his  spiritual  and  rational  nature, 
man  acts  more  unworthily  than  does  the  brute  creation. 
The  inclinations  of  the  inferior  animals  are  in  the 
direct  line  of  the  end  of  their  existence,  their  instincts 
at  once  propel  them  to  what  is  necessary  to  their 


32  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

wellbeiiig.  Similarly  the  instincts  of  man's  animal 
nature  are  true  and  urgent,  but  such  is  not  the  case 
with  man's  rational  discernment  and  spiritual  biases. 
In  the  spiritual  of  his  being  while  in  his  natural 
state,  man  has  no  spontaneous  risings  of  filial  affec- 
tion to  his  Father  in  heaven,  no  vivid  discernment 
of  the  mind  of  God,  no  ardent  and  cherished  desire 
to  comply  with  the  obligations  of  duty,  no  longing 
after  any  cherished  delight  in  the  consciousness  of 
the  Divine.  And  why  are  the  biases  of  man's  soul 
not  Godward,  unless  it  be  that  they  are  perverted  ? 

Man  has  thus  no  true  knowledge  of  the  immutable 
principle  of  his  wellbeing,  viz.,  that  the  finite  can  never 
meet  the  necessities,  fill  the  capacities,  and  energise 
the  functions  of  his  spirit — that  nothing  short  of  the 
indwelling  of  God  can  quicken  and  sustain  him  in 
his  true  life,  that,  secure  what  amount  he  may  of  the 
finite  without  the  indwelling  of  God,  he  can  only 
be  the  more  restless  and  unhappy.  In  such  circum- 
stances, it  is  surely  no  great  leap  to  conclude  that 
knowledge  of  his  wellbeing,  if  this  is  to  bo  obtained, 
can  only  be  reached  by  man  through  revelation.  A 
holy  being,  without  a  direct  perce23tion  of  the  end  of 
his  existence,  and  an  intuitive  knowledge  of  the 
Divine,  is  something  like  a  contradiction.  Surely  the 
simplest  and  most  satisfactory  solution  of  the  problem 
is,  that  man  is  not  now  what  he  once  was. 

And  what  is  the  history  of  man's  religious  endea- 
vours, but  the  narrative  of  irreligious  deeds  ?  It 
is  the  history  of  a  religious  being  struggling  after 
the  advantac^cs  of  a  rclii2,ious  life,  while  disinclined  to 


MAN  A  RELIGIOUS  BEING.  33 

comply  with  the  only  conditions  of  religious  obligation 
and  enjoyment.  This  is  the  true  solution  of  the 
varied  and  conflicting  phenomena  of  life.  On  the 
admission  of  man's  fallen  condition,  the  diflerent  and 
contradictory  phases  of  human  experience  in  man's 
present  state  can  be  adequately  accounted  for  and 
satisfactorily  explained.  But  on  no  other  principle, 
so  far  known  to  us,  can  the  restless  and  conflicting 
state  of  man  on  earth  be  cleared  up. 

Man,  moreover,  is  not  only  a  religious  being  in  a 
fallen  condition,  he  is  in  a  helpless  state,  unable  to 
rescue  himself  from  the  conflict  of  his  ow^n  nature.  lu 
order  to  the  restoration  of  a  fallen  religious  being,  there 
must  be,  as  we  shall  afterwards  see,  a  supernatural 
manifestation  of  the  Divine.  Apart  from  the  peculiar 
grace  of  God,  every  manifestation  of  the  Divine  to  the 
fallen  must,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  be  wrathful, 
and  as  such  be  provocative  of  opposition,  and  only 
drive  the  fallen  farther  and  farther  away  from  God. 
If  man  is  to  be  drawn  to  God,  the  supernatural 
manifestation  given  to  him  must  be  of  love,  of  mer- 
ciful purpose,  and  of  quickening  grace,  such  as  shall 
allure  into  the  fellowship  of  the  Divine.  Such  a 
manifestation  of  God  as  this,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
must  be  given  to  man  from  without ;  for  of  himself  he 
is  utterly  unable  to  ascend  to  such  ideas  of  God,  he  can 
neither  work  out  from  his  own  inner  self  nor  discover 
in  creation  a  medium  of  delightful  fellowship  with  his 
Father  in  heaven.  Do  wdiat  he  will  he  cannot  lay 
hold  on  such  a  manifestation  of  love  and  grace  as  is 
fitted  to  ravish  his  heart  and  bind  him  to  the  throne 


34  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

of  the  Eternal.  Man  cannot  think  of  God  as  lie  is. 
To  do  so  would  be  for  the  false  and  hating  to  pro- 
duce the  lovinof  and  true.  Hence  man  cannot  unveil 
to  himself  God  in  mercy,  nor  produce  such  a  vision  of 
the  love  of  God  as  can  bring  him  into  fellowship  with 
his  Father  in  heaven,  and  promote  the  ends  of  his 
own  existence. 

Nor  does  this  inability  measure  the  helplessness  of 
man.  He  is  not  only  unable  to  produce  the  gracious 
of  the  Divine,  he  is  averse  to  the  holy  and  unwilling 
to  attach  himself  to  the  heavenly.  In  virtually  desir- 
ing, as  man  does,  a  change  in  the  nature  of  God,  he 
must  falsely  apprehend  God;  and  in  striving  to 
elaborate  an  idea  of  God  from  materials  supplied  by 
his  own  faculties  alone,  he  is  necessarily  creating  an 
idol  and  foro;in2;  for  himself  chains  of  darkness.  The 
first  duty  of  man  in  regard  to  spiritual  things  is  not 
to  search  after  truth,  but  to  yield  himself  up  to  the 
guidance  of  the  true.  Rationalism  is  the  most 
irrational  attempt  on  the  part  of  man  ;  it  is,  in  fact, 
the  monstrous  of  human  intellect. 

Reason  cannot  approve  of  man's  attempt  to  think 
God,  much  less  can  it  justify  him  in  his  desire  that 
God's  nature  were  changed.  Reason  cannot  allow 
that  the  wellbeiug  of  man  is  compatible  with  false 
desire  in  his  heart,  or  with  erroneous  conceptions  in 
his  mind  reoardino;  his  relations  with  God. 

How  dark  must  be  the  mind  that  can  entertain 
the  idea  of  effectinor  a  chano-e  in  God!  And  does 
not  the  attempt  on  the  part  of  man  to  propitiate 
God  clearly  prove    the  existence  of  such   a  conccp- 


MAN  A  RELIGIOUS  BEING.  35 

tion  and  desire  in  man,  and  reveal  the  inner  darkness 
of  the  human  mind  regarding  man's  relations  with 
God  ?  Nay,  the  very  effort  on  the  part  of  man  to 
propitiate  God  discloses  a  deep  consciousness  in 
liumanity  of  a  difference  between  God  and  man. 
And  what  can  this  difference  be  but  an  opposition 
of  entire  life.  The  attempt  to  proj^itiate  God  also 
implies  the  existence  of  a  vague  notion  in  man  that 
somehow  he  is  able  to  rectify  the  disturbance 
between  himself  and  God — that  it  lies  with  man  to 
provide  the  medium  of  agreeable  fellowship  between 
himself  and  God — that  the  change  necessary  to 
agreeable  fellowship  is  a  change  needed  not  in  man 
but  in  God ;  and  that  man  is  more  desirous  than 
God  for  the  re-establishment  of  agreeable  fellowship 
between  heaven  and  earth.  Here  is  the  acme  of 
human  self-righteousness,  of  the  errors  which  underlie 
the  relio;ious  efforts  of  man. 

Moreover,  the  cherishing  of  sucli  desire  on  the  part 
of  man  shows  that  the  direct  manifestations  of  God 
in  and  to  man  are  offensive  ;  so  much  so,  that  instead 
of  satisfying  they  disquiet  his  spirit.  The  cherishing 
of  such  desire  surely  shows  that  the  manifestations 
of  God  to  man,  through  the  operations  of  nature  in 
him,  only  intensify  his  consciousness  of  guilt,  arouse 
the  enmity  of  his  rebellious  spirit,  and  increase  the 
conflict  of  his  nature,  and  therefore  are  not  and 
cannot  be  a  blessing  to  him. 

And  reason  must  see  that  man  in  cherishino;  such 
a  desire,  and  in  endeavouring  to  pro];)itiate  God,  can 
only  render  his  condition  worse  ;  for  such  a  desire 


36  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

and  effort  can  only  make  liim  more  unlike  God  and 
less  sympathetic  with  Him,  and  in  this  way  widen 
the  gulf  already  existing  between  them. 

Yet  man  struggles,  and  that  persistently,  to  bo 
religious  after  his  own  conception.  He  does  not 
perceive  that  by  such  an  effort  he  violates  the  first 
principles  of  the  finite  and  religious — viz.,  that  the 
finite  must  ever  be  dependent  on  the  Infinite — in  the 
measure  of  the  nearness  of  his  nature  to  God,  and 
that  the  religious  in  man  must  feed  itself  only  on  the 
manifestations  of  the  Divine.  He  perceives  not  that 
by  his  very  effort  to  win  the  favour  of  God  he  denies 
the  fact  of  his  fall,  and  of  his  helpless  condition 
before  Him  ;  for  how  can  he  meet  the  Divine 
approbation  by  desiring  that  God  should  be  dif- 
ferent from  what  He  is,  seeing  that  by  so  doing  he 
creates  to  himself  an  idol,  and  sins  ae^ainst  the 
livino;  God  ? 

The  very  effort  of  fallen  man  to  commend  himself 
to  God  by  his  own  doings  is  inconsistent  with  the 
revelations  of  the  fallen,  and  subversive  of  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  a  gracious  restoration.  Grace 
requires  of  fallen  man  that  he  become  acceptable  to 
God  not  by  doing  but  by  believing.  And  herein 
we  perceive  the  direct  opposition  between  the 
religious  attempts  of  men  and  the  religion  of  God. 
The  religious  after  man's  conception  does  not  perceive 
man's  need  of  renewal  through  the  cpiickening  of 
the  Divine.  Instead  of  carefully  examining  the 
characteristics  of  his  religion,  to  see  if  it  be  in  entire 
conformity  with   the    necessary    conditions  of  grace 


MAN  A  RELIGIOUS  BEING.  37 

to  tlie  fallen,  lie  is  rather  disposed  to  take  credit 
to  himself  for  the  excellence  of  that  religion  which 
has  sprung  up  from  within,  and  has  proceeded  from 
himself.  He  tests  his  religion  not  by  the  assimilation 
of  his  life  to  the  Divine,  and  by  the  consciousness 
of  the  calm,  deep,  and  ready  power  of  j)rinciple  which 
enables  him  to  overcome  temptation,  raises  him 
above  fretfulness  in  reference  to  the  seen  and  tem- 
poral, and  preserves  him  in  the  realised  sense  of  the 
Divine  presence,  not  by  this,  but  by  the  heat  of  his 
emotional  fervour,  the  zeal  of  his  prejudice,  and 
the  numerous  deeds  and  burdensome  character  of 
his  services. 

And  yet,  after  all,  is  there  not  a  something  under- 
lyiijg  this  desire  in  man  that  God's  nature  Avere 
other  than  it  is,  that  deserves  the  most  thoualitful 
study  of  man  ?  Is  there  not  a  something  here  which 
foreshadows  the  brinoina:  in  of  a  better  hone — a 
something  which  shuts  man  up  to  the  dictates  of  a 
higher  reason  than  his  own,  even  to  fliitli  in  a  revela- 
tion from  God  ?  May  there  not  be  in  this  desire  the 
first  motion  of  a  craving  after  that  which  is  necessary 
to  the  restoration  of  spiritual  life  in  man  ?  Is  there 
not  in  this  desire  a  divine  indication  of  the  deep 
requirements  of  man's  condition,  an  echo  in  the 
human  soul  of  a  higher  voice  than  man's  ?  Doubt- 
less there  is  here  the  response  of  man's  inner  being 
to  that  voice  which  tells  him  that  a  change  must  be 
effected  ere  he  can  delio-ht  himself  in  God — a  chanoe 
in  that  very  desire  Avhich  he  so  ardently  cherishes. 
And  in  order  to  the  accomplishment  of  this  change, 


38  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

there  must  needs  be  a  cliange,  not  in  tlie  nature,  but 
in  the  manifestations  of  God  to  the  sinner. 

And  can  this  change  needed  by  man  be  any  other 
than  a  transition  from  the  disturbed  emotions  innate 
in  the  fallen,  to  a  tranquil  and  joyous  rej)Ose  of  the 
soul  in  God,  through  means  of  a  supernatural  mani- 
festation of  the  Divine  ?  If  the  desire  in  man  for  a 
change  in  God  proves  that  the  manifestations  of  the 
Divine  in  man,  or  the  revelation  of  God  to  man 
through  the  operations  of  nature  in  and  around  him, 
are  so  offensive  that  he  cannot  through  means  of 
them  hold  delightful  fellowship  with  God,  but  must 
long  for  other  manifestations,  can  these  other  mani- 
festations be  through  nature  ?  Must  they  not  bo 
such  as,  while  acting  upon  man  so  as  to  harmonise 
the  operations  of  nature  in  him,  be  supernatural  in 
themselves  ? 

If  this  desire  in  man  does  not  fur^iish  him  with 
the  evidence  of  a  Divine  voice  speaking  in  him — 
if  it  does  not  warrant  him  to  expect  a  supernatural 
manifestation  of  the  Divine,  it  certainly  should  dis- 
pose him  to  listen  with  attention  to  the  announcement 
of  such  a  manifestation,  and  induce  him  to  examine 
with  care  the  credentials  of  that  which  claims  to  come 
to  him  as  a  revelation  from  God,  which  tells  him  that 
God  has  given  to  man  a  manifestation  of  Himself 
for  the  very  purpose  of  effecting  a  change  in  him,  and 
thus  rescuing  him  from  the  conflict  in  which  he 
groans  and  toils,  but  from  which  he  labours  in  vain 
to  escape.  Should  not  this  desire  incline  man  to 
receive  and  readily  obey  this  revelation,  rather  than 


MAN  A  RELIGIOUS  BEING.  39 

to  endeavour  to  reduce  its  doctrines  to  the    level  of 
liis  selfisli  dispositions  and  vain  conceits  ? 

What  a  spectacle  in  the  universe  of  God  is  man  ! 
a  being  created  with  capacities  boundless  and  endur- 
ing as  the  Eternal — endowed  with  a  receptivity  for 
the  indwelling  of  God — j^^ssessed  of  a  nature  suscep- 
tible of  rising  to  the  loftiest  condition  of  the  finite, 
and  a  heart  that  ever  yearns  with  an  indestructible 
longing  for  the  enjoyment  of  endless  fellowship  with 
the  Infinite,  and  yet  understanding  not  the  deep 
cravings  of  his  own  immortal  spirit,  nor  embracing 
the  fair  opportunities  within  his  reach  of  knowing 
God  and  enterino;  into  rest.  For  what  is  the  result 
of  all  his  labours  under  the  sun  ?  They  are  only  vanity 
and  vexation  of  spirit  even  at  best.  Instead  of  finding 
God,  excavating  Him  as  it  were  from  the  womb  of 
nature  or  the  depths  of  his  own  consciousness,  he 
only  gives  an  ideal  objective  existence  to  his  own 
inner  disturbed  state  of  thought  and  feeling — a 
phantom  which,  as  he  pursues  it,  leads  him  only 
farther  and  farther  into  ever-deepening  gloom,  and 
increases  the  unavailing  conflict  which  already  exists, 
and  awakens  more  keenly  within  him  the  feeling 
of  disquietude. 


(  40  ; 


CHAPTER    II. 

TRUTH  IN  ITS   HIGHER   MANIFESTATIONS. 

What  is  trutli  ?  Truth  is  related  to  tliouc^lit — its 
source  and  its  expression.  It  is  the  harmony  of 
thought  with  its  oliject,  and  the  agreement  of  thought 
with  its  expression— the  agreement  of  the  objective 
and  subjective.  AVhen  a  witness  is  called  to  give 
his  evidence  on  a  matter  in  dispute,  he  is  required 
solemnly  to  bind  himself  "  to  speak  the  truth,  the 
whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth" — i.e.,  to  tell 
all  that  he  knows  of  the  case  in  hand,  and  to  tell 
it  exactly  as  he  knows  it.  He  is  not  to  withhold 
anything,  or  to  colour  any  of  his  statements.  He  is 
to  embody  his  knowledge  of  the  matter  in  such 
language  as  will  convey  to  the  mind  of  judge  and 
jury  an  impression  of  the  case  the  exact  reflex  of 
his  own.  And  if  in  making  his  statement  he  is 
known  intentionally  to  employ  terms  which  cannot 
but  mislead,  or  which  in  their  nature  are  fitted  to 
do  so,  he  is  held  to  be  a  false  witness,  or  one  who 
has  not  spoken  the  truth. 

Moreover,  the  testimony  of  a  witness,  while  faith- 
ful, may  be  inadequate  to  convey  a  correct  conception 
of  the  matter  under  investi2:ation.     His  observation 


7 RUTH  IN  ITS  HIGHER  MANIFESTATIONS.     41 

may  have  been  liurried,  partial,  or  incomplete ;  and 
while  he  candidly  declares  all  that  he  knows,  his 
declaration  may  be  found  insufficient  to  rej^resent 
the  matter  in  all  its  exactitude  and  fulness.  Such 
a  witness  has  indeed  spoken  the  truth  ;  but  truth 
in  its  widest  sense  implies  not  merely  a  faithful 
utterance,  but  likewise  a  correct  and  complete 
expression  of  the  full  acquaintance  with  the  object 
or  subject  matter  of  knowledge.  Man  seeks  in  his 
knowledoe  to  embrace  all  beino;  in  all  its  relations 
and  conditions.  Man  has  thoughts  of  himself  and 
of  other  beings,  and  his  knowledge  of  external  exist- 
ence is  not  merely  historic,  but  scientific  and  vital 
— not  simply  an  acc_[uaintance  with  the  facts,  but  a 
discernment  of  the  laws  and  operations  of  being  ;  and 
this  knowledge  is  gained  not  merely  by  the  percep- 
tions of  the  mind,  but  also  by  the  emotions  of  the 
heart  and  the  realisations  of  the  spirit.  Man  has 
a  knowledge  not  only  of  physical  nature,  but  of 
personality,  of  the  principles  and  realisations  of  life. 
Thought  is  related  to  the  outer  of  being  and  to  the 
inner  of  soul,  and  truth  is  the  harmony  or  correctness 
of  this  thought.  To  know  truth  in  its  entirety, 
we  must  not  only  acquaint  ourselves  with  the  whole 
of  outer  existence,  but  with  the  entire  of  inner  being, 
and  realise  the  relations  of  the  inner  to  the  outer, 
and  of  the  outer  to  the  inner  of  existence. 

Truth  is  the  medium  of  rational  intercourse.  Mind 
cannot  hold  intercourse  with  mind  but  tlirou2;h  the 
medium  of  truth.  If  one  mind  in  converse  with 
another   does   not   employ   nor   receive    truth,    then 


42  TIIK  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRIIUAL  LIFE. 

there  is  no  communication  between  them.  To  the 
extent  that  error  is  involved  in  the  converse  of  mind, 
to  that  extent  the  one  mind  is  shut  out  from  the 
other.  If  Kfe  docs  not  act  truthfully  —  i.e.,  feed 
on  its  own  proper  aliment,  and  act  in  harmony  with 
its   constitution — it  does  not  realise  itself  as  it  ouo-ht 

O 

to  do,  nor  through  the  consciousness  of  life  in  itself 
know  what  life  is  in  another.  If  spirit  does  not 
meet  spirit  in  truthful  embrace,  there  can  be  no  pure 
fellowship  between  spirits,  no  realised  intercourse  of 
soul.  The  knowledge  of  spiritual  truth,  then,  is  not 
mere  intellectual  perce^^tion  of  focts,  laws,  &c.,  of 
being,  but  the  spiritual  realisation  of  existence 
through  the  love  of  the  Divine — conscious  life  in  God. 
Truth  has  been  defined  "  the  reality  of  things ; "  it 
would  be  more  correct  to  call  it  the  reality  of  being. 
A  knowledge  of  the  objective,  however  correct  and 
complete,  cannot  afford  an  adequate  acquaintance 
with  truth.  To  know  truth  we  must  know  the  sub- 
jective as  well  as  the  objective,  and  realise  life  in  its 
relations  to  beinof. 

We  may  set  it  down  as  an  axiom,  that  if  there  be 
a  personal  God  at  all.  He  can  bear  testimony  as  well 
as  man.  The  Infinite  may  express  Himself  as  well 
as  the  finite.  Man  utters  his  thoughts  in  words, 
himself  in  life.  If  God  utters  his  mind,  we  are  to 
expect  He  will  do  so  adequately  and  truthfully — in 
Word  and  Life.  And  for  the  adequate  reception  of 
such  a  revelation,  there  must  be  a  pure  reception  of 
the  Divine — a  capacity  for  heariug  the  Word  and  a 
capability  of  receiving  the  Life. 


TRUTH  IN  ITS  HIGHER  AI A NIFE STATIONS.     43 

Truth  is  essentially  clualistic.  Mind  must  have 
idea,  and  idea  must  have  form.  Thought  is  distinct 
from  the  thinking  substance,  and  yet  they  are 
essentially  connected.  Thought  can  exist  only  in 
mind,  and  mind,  which  is  essentially  active,  can  act 
and  realise  itself  only  in  thought.  Mind  must  be 
conscious  of  thouo;ht,  but  that  thouirht  is  not  the 
mind  itself.  The  subjective  is  necessary  to  the 
objective,  and  the  objective  to  the  subjective.  Mind 
must  express  itself  to  itself,  and  mind  can  express 
itself  to  itself  only  by  the  subjective  passing  into  the 
objective  in  consciousness.  And  the  objective  must 
be  the  express  image  of  the  subjective.  The  sub- 
jective of  the  Infinite  Mind  is  the  Divine  conscious- 
ness of  God's  being,  purpose,  and  enjoyment.  The 
objective  of  the  Infinite  Mind  is  the  Divine  ideal, 
that  of  which  God  is  conscious  ;  and  that  of  which 
God  is  conscious  is  in  perfect  agreement  with  and 
altogether  worthy  of  the  subjective  Divine. 

The  ideal  is  the  objective,  the  consciousness  of  the 
emotional  and  volitional  is  the  subjective,  of  mind. 
The  subjective  may  be  in  a  harmonious  or  conflicting 
state  towards  the  objective,  as  in  the  consciousness  of 
guilt.  In  this  state  the  affectional  and  volitional  are 
not  and  cannot  be  in  accord  with  the  ideal  or  objective. 
If  the  subjective  and  objective  are  concordant,  truth 
is  in  the  mind  to  the  extent  of  its  consciousness.  If 
they  are  in  conflict,  error  is  in  the  mind.  If  all 
minds  had  the  same  ideal,  then  would  there  be  no 
difference  in  minds  but  that  of  individual  personality. 
In    the   Infinite  Mind,   while    as   yet   nothing    was 


44  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

created,  the  objective  proceeded  from  the  suLjective, 
aud  was  derived  from  no  foreign  or  external  source. 
In  the  finite  mind  the  objective  is  derived  from  the 
inner  and  outer  —  from  intuition,  observation,  and 
experience. 

Truth  is  subjective  and  objective,  and  objective 
and  subjective.  Mind  is  occupied  with  its  ideal. 
The  ideal  is  the  objective,  and  the  consciousness  of 
the  ideal  is  the  subjective,  of  mind.  The  objective  is 
the  offspring  of  the  subjective  ;  the  utterance  of  the 
objective  is  the  embodiment  in  sound,  form,  or 
vitality  of  the  subjective,  and  the  perfect  utterance 
is  the  true  manifestation  of  the  subjective  in  the 
objective.  Truth  is  objective  internal  and  external. 
While  the  ideal  of  mind  exists  only  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  mind,  it  is  the  internal  objective  of  mind  ;  but 
when  it  is  expressed  in  its  embodiment,  it  is  the 
objective  external;  and  when  it  is  embraced  by  other 
minds  in  belief,  it  becomes  the  objective  internal  and 
subjective  of  such  mind,  and  the  consciousness  of  it 
brings  the  subjective  of  the  mind  embracing  it  into  a 
oneness  with  the  mind  from  which  it  originally  pro- 
ceeded. Truth  subjective  and  internal  objective  in 
the  Divine  J\Iind  is  necessarily  infinite ;  but  can  truth 
external  objective  to  the  Divine  Mind  be  necessarily 
infinite,  must  it  not  be  necessarily  finite  ?  The  limi- 
tations of  truth  are  in  the  forms  and  not  in  the 
essence  of  truth.  If  modern  philosophic  speculation 
would  keep  this  fact  in  view,  there  would  be  less  talk 
than  there  is  of  creation  proving  only  the  existence 
of  an  imperfect  God. 


TRUTH  IN  ITS  HIGHER  MANIFESTATIONS.     45 

Truth  in  God,  or   tlie  objective  internal  and  sub- 
jective of  the  Infinite  Mind,  is  necessarily  true — i.e., 
the  objective  is  the  exact  counterpart  of  the  subjective, 
and  the  objective  is   the    full   measure   or  complete 
realisation  of  the  infinitude    of  perfect  being.      But 
from  this  it  docs  not  follow  that  truth  in  the  finite, 
while  adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  finite  wellbeing, 
is  necessarily  infinite ;  and  out  of  this  then  arises  the 
possibility  of  a  false  objective  and  an  erroneous  sub- 
jective in  the  finite.      It  was  therefore  not  without 
reason  that  some  of  the  early  fathers  in  the  Church 
argued  that  there  was  necessarily  the  outgoing  of  the 
subjective  into  the  objective  Divine — the  passing  of 
the  Infinite  Mind  into  the  consciousness  of  Itself  in 
the  generation  of  the  Logos  ;  and  in  this  there  was 
an  entire  satisfaction  of  the  Infinite  Heart  with  the 
Brightness  of  His  own  glory.     God  had  a  knowledge 
of  His  own  Being,   a  consciousness  of  Himself,  and 
this  subjective  Divine  expressed  Itself  to  Itself  in  the 
eternal    generation   of  this    Image  of    Itself.      This 
objective  of  the  subjective  Divine  could  be  expressed 
only  in    an    eternal    infinite   Divine    objective,    an 
objective    which    was    one    with     God.        "In    the 
beoinnino-  was  the   Loo-os,  and  the  Loc^os  was  with 
God,  and  the  Logos  was  God." 

Truth  is  the  external  objective  of  the  Infinite  when 
it  is  the  exact  impress  of  the  Divine  ideal  in  the 
creation  of  the  finite,  the  utterance  of  the  Infinite 
concept  in  a  sphere  of  being  beyond  the  consciousness 
of  God,  the  outgoing  of  the  internal  objective  and 
subjective   Infinite   into  the   external  objective  and 


46  THE  SCIENCE  OE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

subjective  finite.  "  And  God  said,  Let  us  make  man 
in  our  own  imao;e,  after  our  likeness,"  "  So  God 
created  man  in  His  own  imaire  :  in  the  imaize  of  God 
created  He  liim  ;  male  and  female  created  He  them." 
"  And  God  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of 
life  ;  and  man  became  a  living  soul." 

Truth  in  its  totality  is  the  infinite  of  the  Divine, 
the  concept  of  the  Infinite  Mind,  the  consciousness  of 
that  concept,  the  manifestation  of  that  concept,  the 
ap23reliension  of  that  concept,  the  realisation  of  that 
concept,  the  fellow\slii23  of  that  concept.  Truth 
is  the  infinite  in  the  Infinite,  the  Infinite  in  the 
finite,  the  finite  in  the  Infinite.  Truth  is  the  descent 
of  the  Infinite  into  the  finite,  and  the  ascent  of  the 
finite  into  a  oneness  with  the  Infinite — the  fellowship 
of  the  Divine  with  the  human,  and  of  the  human 
with  the  Divine  and  with  the  human.  From  the 
nnbeginning  ages  of  eternity  there  w^as  in  the  Infinite 
Mind  an  ideal  of  the  universe,  a  model  concept 
of  the  contemplated  workmanship  of  God.  This 
model  concept  is  the  objective  in  the  subjective,  the 
ideal  in  the  Infinite  Mind.  In  this  concejit  the  ob- 
jective and  the  subjective  were  one — the  idea  with  the 
consciousness  of  it.  There  Avas  a  oneness  or  perfect 
iiojreemcnt  between  them.  There  was  no  discord, 
opposition,  or  unlikeness  between  them.  The  con- 
cept was  perfect  and  complete,  all  w^orthy  of  God. 
And  wdien  the  Divine  fiat  in  the  act  of  creation  gave 
substantive  existence  to  the  ideal  objective  of  the 
Infinite  Mind,  the  universe  of  material,  intellectual, 
and  spiritual  being   was   the   reflex   of  the    Divine 


TRUTH  IN  ITS  HIGHER  MANIFESTATIONS.     47 

objective,  the  written  transcript  of  tlie  Divine  ideal. 
In  the  act  of  creation,  God,  having  as  it  were  in 
space  the  picture  of  His  own  ideal,  gave  beyond  the 
region  of  His  own  consciousness  substantive  existence 
to  His  own  objective  concept,  and  displayed  in  the 
mirror  of  the  external  the  imasfe  of  His  own  internal. 
Divine  wisdom,  power,  and  goodness  were  adequate 
to  the  production  in  external  substantive  existence  of 
the  objective  or  ideal  concept  of  the  Infinite  Mind. 
Had  it  not  been  so,  the  Infinite  must  for  ever  have 
continued  within  Himself  all  being — the  objective  in 
the  subjective,  the  finite  in  the  Infinite ;  no  objective 
could  have  ever  existed  beyond  the  region  of  the 
Divine  consciousness ;  creation  never  could,  have 
been,  for  God  could  never  have  given  forth  imperfec- 
tion. This  of  course  does  not  mean  metajDhysical 
imperfection.  And  Divine  wisdom,  power,  and 
goodness  were  not  only  adequate  to  the  production 
of  a  creation  bej^ond  the  region  of  the  Divine 
consciousness,  but  were  equal  to  the  production  of 
this  creation  every  way  worthy  of  the  exact  counter- 
part of  the  model  concept  of  the  Divine  Mind.  The 
Almighty  could  have  made  it  nothing  else ;  for  if 
it  was  not  the  exact  transcript  of  the  Divine,  then 
did  God  not  rej^rodiice  His  own  idea,  but  took  the 
model  of  His  creation  from  some  other  than  His  own 
ideal.  If  creation,  as  fresh  from  the  Almighty  hand, 
had  not  been  the  exact  transcript  of  the  model  con- 
cept of  the  Divine  ]\Iind,  then  there  must  have  been 
imperfection  in  the  workmanship  of  God.  Creation 
could  never  have  met  the  intention  of  the  Almighty, 


4S  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

God  never  could  have  surveyed  His  entire  creation 
with  satisfaction  and  pronounced  it  very  good.  But 
creation  did  reflect  the  model  concept  of  the  Divine 
Mind.  God  did  survey  it  with  His  entire  satisfaction 
and  pronounced  it  very  good.  It  was  all  that  He 
desired  it  to  be.  It  had  a  beino;  as  well  as  a  be- 
ginning  in  perfect  accordance  with  His  design. 
There  it  hung  in  the  presence-chamber  of  Jehovah 
the  unique  sketch  of  the  Divine  Artist,  the  perfect 
embodiment  of  the  Divine  purjDOse ;  there  it  lay 
traced  on  the  parchment  of  space,  in  its  substance 
and  realisation  the  exact  impress  of  the  Divine  in- 
tention, the  perfect  copy  of  the  model  concept  of  the 
Infinite  and  Eternal  Mind — the  fit  transcript  of  the 
objective,  the  suitable  outbreathing  of  the  subjective, 
Divine.  As  the  impression  thrown  from  the  stereo- 
type plate  answers  to  the  page  printed  from  the 
original  fount,  so  did  creation  correspond  with  the 
ideal  of  God.  The  culmination  or  higli  perfection  of 
this  creation  was  immortal  mind — spirit  in  the  image 
of  God — beings  essentially  active,  capable  of  regulating 
their  actions,  of  understanding  their  relations,  and 
conscious  of  the  high  conditions  of  their  wellbeing. 
The  last  stroke  of  creative  skill  and  benignity  was 
the  gathering  up  into  one  bright  image  of  God  the 
scattered  rays  of  His  glory  sparkling  in  the  prior  out- 
goings of  the  Divine,  and  breathing  out  from  Himself 
into  this  finishing  stroke  the  vital  sj)ark  of  infinite 
life.  This  immortal  offspring  of  God  not  only 
imaged  His  own  likeness  in  the  constitution  of  their 
being,    but   in  the    conceptions   of  their  minds   and 


TRUTH  IN  ITS  HIGHER  MANIFESTATIONS.     49 

realisation  of  tlieir  spirits.  They  not  only  possessed 
in  the  substance  and  mechanism  of  their  existence  a 
counterpart  of  the  oLjective  Divine,  but  realised  in 
their  consciousness  the  reflex  of  the  subjective  God. 
Their  whole  nature  moved  in  perfect  sympathy  with 
the  Divine.  The  fellowship  between  the  finite  and 
the  Infinite  was  perfect  in  kind,  though  not  complete 
in  degree  ;  the  spirit  exulting  in  the  fulness  of  its 
joy,  the  mind  clear  in  its  discernment  of  the  light  of 
the  true,  the  soul  joyous  in  the  purity  of  its  afiections 
and  satisfied  Avith  the  bliss  of  the  Divine.  Man 
delighted  in  his  being,  and  rejoiced  in  the  presence  of 
his  God;  and  God,  beholding  in  the  objective  and 
subjective  of  man  the  lovely  reflex  of  His  own  being 
and  life,  rested  with  the  entire  satisfaction  of  His 
Infinite  complacency  in  His  first-born  oflspring. 
There  was  an  interchange  of  affection,  of  thought,  of 
confidence,  of  delight.  Man  received  from  God  the 
fulness  of  his  joy,  the  energy  of  his  life,  and  returned 
the  gratitude  of  his  soul.  God  imjDarting  to  man  the 
outgoing  of  His  fulness,  beheld  in  the  human  the 
exemplar  of  His  design,  the  embodiment  of  His 
ideal,  the  perfection  of  His  work,  and  received  from 
man  the  full  confidence  of  his  love.  ]\Ian  had  only, 
in  the  study  of  creation  and  in  the  fellowship  of  the 
Divine,  to  develop  the  capacities  of  his  being,  acquaint 
himself  with  the  j^rinciples  of  his  constitution,  the 
end  of  his  life,  and  to  exercise  the  powers  of  his 
existence  in  communion  with  his  Father,  to  advance 
to  higher  perfection,  and  ascend,  in  the  endless  pro- 
gress of  the  reception  of  the  Divine,  to  nearer  and 

D 


50  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

nearer  resemLlance  to  God  and  deeper  consciousness 
of  His  life. 

As    man    gazed    on    liis    own   being,    tlic    nearest 
approach  of  tlie  finite  to  the  Infinite,  he  would  per- 
ceive the  objective  Divine  reflected  in  the  ol)jective 
human;  as  he  realised  life,  he  would  become  conscious 
of  the  subjective  Divine  being  mirrored  in  the  sub- 
jective human ;  and  as  he  developed  the  powers  and 
capacities   of   his   life,   he   would   ascend  to   a  fuller 
fellowship,  a  higher  enjoyment  of  being  in   himself, 
throuoh  means  of  his  life  in  God  and  a  more  complete 
knowledge    of  the    true.      If   creation    reflected    the 
objective  Infinite  and  was  summed  up  in  man,  then 
the  human  mind  would  receive,  in  its  contemplation 
of  the  outer  and  realisation  of  the  inner,  an  advancing 
impress  of  the  objective  Divine.     As  the  body  of  the 
infant    in    the   progress    of   growth    approaches    the 
maturity  of  manhood,  so  would  the  objective  human 
rise  in  nearer  measure  to  the  objective  Divine.     If 
the  inner  of  man  imaged  the  inner  of  God,  then  as 
man  read  in  his  own  being  and  life,  and  realised  more 
of  existence  in  his  fuller  consciousness,  the  subjective 
of  man  would  pass  into  a  nearer  oneness  with  the 
subjective  of  God,  as  the  consciousness  of  infancy  in 
the    development   of  life   passes  into  a  fuller  know- 
ledge of  humanity.     And  thus  the  fellowship  of  man 
with  God  would   grow  in   measure   as   he   advanced 
into  the  deeper  and  fuller  realisation  of  his  own  being 
and  life,  the  subjective  finite  would  pass  into  a  closer 
oneness  with  tlie  subjective  Divine,  the  inner  life  of 
man   into   a  nearer   realisation  to  the  life   of  God. 


TR  UTH  IN  ITS  HIGHER  MANIFESTA  TIONS.     5 1 

Man,  the  child  of  God,  the  heir  of  the  Infinite  and 
Eternal,  the  student  of  the  Divine,  would  come  to 
know  the  truth,  to  bask  in  its  radiance,  to  realise  its 
bliss,  and  to  reflect  its  glory.  Truth  to  be  fully 
known  requires  not  merely  a  completed  objective, 
Ijut  a  perfect  subjective.  If  the  subjective  should  be 
diseased — i.e.,  morally  disordered,  conscious  of  guilt — 
the  objective  would  be  appalling  to  the  subjective,  and 
struggled  against  by  the  subjective.  The  subjective 
could  not  rest  satisfied  with  this  ol)jective,  however 
faithful  an  exemplar  of  itself,  l)ut  would  strive  to 
bring  it  into  such  a  condition  as  would  satisfy  it. 
And  thus  error  and  discordance  would  necessarily  be 
generated  in  the  mind.  The  mind  could  not  be  in  a 
condition  of  truthfulness. 

As  long  as  fellowship  was  enjoyed  with  God,  truth 
Avas  known  by  man.  Life  was  realised  by  him  in  the 
development  of  the  human,  through  the  indwelling 
operations  of  the  Divine.  Man  was  a  possessor  of 
truth,  a  student  of  truth,  a  witness  for  the  truth.  It 
is  only  in  the  fellowship  of  the  Divine,  and  in  the 
consciousness  of  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul,  that  truth 
can  be  known  ;  not  in  the  mere  scientific  study  of 
nature,  nor  in  the  speculations  of  the  human  mind, 
but  in  the  realisation  of  spiritual  vitality.  In  spiritual 
life,  the  subjective  human  is  one  with  the  subjective 
Divine,  the  objective  perceived  with  the  objective 
real.  Truth  cannot  be  known  in  the  consciousness  of 
a  discordant  condition  of  existence,  however  clear  the 
individual's  perception  may  be  of  the  relations  and 
laws  of  being.     If,  then,  in  the  mysteries  of  being, 


52  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

there  were  to  arise  in  tlie  deep  recesses  of  the  soul  an 
aversion  of  heart  from  God,  then  truth  would  cease  to 
oe  known,  if  the  slightest  misgiving  were  to  enter 
into  the  consciousness.  If  a  sense  of  guilt  were  to  he 
realised,  there  then  would  be  no  longer  a  oneness  of 
the  subjective  human  with  the  subjective  Divine,  of 
the  objective  human  with  the  objective  real.  There 
would  be  in  the  subjective  of  such  consciousness  a 
fall,  a  falsehood,  a  contradiction;  and  if  from  this 
cause  there  should  arise  on  any  account  a  necessity  of 
a  curse  or  blight,  even  for  a  time,  spreading  itself  over 
creation,  then  the  universe  would  no  longer  be  the 
exemplar  or  faithful  transcript  of  the  model  concept 
of  the  Infinite  Mind,  the  true  offspring  of  God.  If, 
then,  there  be  in  the  nature  of  free  agency  the  pos- 
sibility of  a  creature  violating  the  obligations  of  his 
wellbeing,  and  if  this  possibility  should  become  a 
reality,  then  that  creature  would  be  no  longer  what 
God  had  made  him;  his  subjective  and  objective  would 
be  no  longer  one  with  the  subjective  and  objective 
Divine,  and  the  beauty  of  creation,  as  influenced  by 
his  standing  in  it,  would  be  marred  and  its  perfection 
destroyed.  The  world  w^ould  be  no  longer  the  mirror 
in  which  was  reflected  the  objective  Divine,  the 
human  consciousness  would  no  longer  be  the  counter- 
part of  the  subjective  of  God.  The  human  personality 
would  be  no  longer  one  in  conscious  enjoyment  with 
the  Divine  personality,  the  individual  will  would  be 
no  longer  in  harmony  with  the  end,  the  principles 
and  obligations   of  life.      The   concord,    vigour,   and 


TRUTH  IN  Il^S  HIGHER  MANIFESTATIONS.    53 

Lliss  of  human  existence  would  be  gone,  and  man  at 
most  would  only  remain  a  splendid  ruin. 

Into  this  most  dire  of  all  possibilities  we  may 
plunge,  and  grope  amid  innumerable  suppositions, 
and  stumble  upon  endless  guesses,  from  which  we 
can  discover  no  outlet.  Through  this  labyrinth  we 
can  trace  no  path  ;  analogy  itself  is  inadequate.  The 
fall  of  man,  the  extinction  of  the  Divine  life  in  the 
soul,  is  the  anomaly  of  man's  existence ;  hence  the 
absurdity  of  attempting  any  explanation  of  it,  in 
accordance  with  the  rules  of  looic.  The  onlv  distant 
approach  of  analogy  which,  in  the  wildest  suppositions 
of  imagination,  can  be  conceived  of  as  bearing  in  the 
least  upon  this  dark  enigma,  is  the  monstrous  forma- 
tions of  the  womb,  the  lasus  naturoe,  which  occasionally 
meet  the  eye.  Admitting  the  fact  of  a  disruption  in 
the  world — a  fact  which  no  philosophy  can  disprove, 
and  a  fact  which  no  scepticism  can  disannul — it  must 
be  clear  that  the  subjective  human  is  no  longer  one 
with  the  subjective  Divine,  the  objective  human  with 
the  objective  real.  Just  as  the  corrupt  or  mutilated 
text  of  a  printed  book  is  no  longer  one  with  the  pure 
and  correct  manuscript  of  the  written  work,  so  the 
diseased  frame  of  man,  the  rebellious  spirit,  the  fallen 
world,  is  no  longer  one  with  the  new-born  creation 
which  God  pronounced  to  be  very  good.  And  should 
this  disturbed  order  of  being  be  read  as  the  pure  text 
of  revelation,  with  the  view  of  ascertaining  from  it 
the  mind  of  God — if  this  fallen  condition  of  humanity 
should  be  studied  with  the  view  of  becominof  ac- 
quainted  with  the  real  workmanship  of  God  or  the 


54  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

true  nature  of  man,  a  grave  error  is  committed,  and 
a  false  impression  of  the  will  and  design  of  God  is 
received.  If  the  guilty  conscience  and  the  rebellious 
spirit  of  man  be  read  in  the  light  of  consciousness,  in 
order  to  learn  the  true  character  of  the  soul,  the  real 
nature  of  spiritual  life,  and  the  original  manifestation 
of  the  Divine  in  the  human,  the  result  must  be  error 
and  confusion. 

And  this  is  the  very  error  into  which  rationalists 
and  many  scientific  men  are  continually  falling.  They 
study  the  existing  order  of  things,  the  present  state 
of  the  world,  with  the  view  of  coming  to  a  correct 
conception  of  the  work  of  God,  the  original  mani- 
festation of  the  Divine  to  man,  and  expect  by  so 
doing  to  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of  truth,  of  being,  of 
God.  But  they  perceive  not  that  the  sympathies, 
sentiments,  desires,  and  consciousness  of  man  are  not 
what  they  originally  were ;  that  the  development  of 
the  nature,  the  unfolding  of  the  principles,  the  in- 
vigoration  of  the  powers,  the  exercise  of  the  functions, 
and  the  realisation  of  the  life  of  man  are  not  what 
they  were  when  fresh  from  the  hand  of  God.  It  is 
thus  impossible  for  them  in  such  a  study  to  arrive  at 
a  knowledge  of  truth.  Those  who  would  thus  study 
do  not  see  that  their  perceptions  must  necessarily  be 
obscure,  perplexing,  and  contradictory.  Hence  the 
error  and  conflict  of  the  contending  schools  of  philo- 
sophy and  sects  in  religion.  The  world  may  be  in 
substance  what  it  originally  Avas,  but  is  no  longer 
Avhat  it  was  in  its  relations,  operations,  and  realisa- 
tions. 


TRUTH  IN  ITS  HIGHER  MANIFESTATIONS.    55 

In  tlie  study  of  liumainty,  as  made  known  to  us 
in  the  life  of  man,  we  may  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of 
the  elements,  faculties,  existing  relations,  and  actual 
experience  and  known  consciousness  of  man  ;  but  such 
a  knowledge  cannot  afford  a  clear  insio'ht  into  the 
original  condition  of  man,  much  less  can  it  supply 
a  right  conception  of  the  purpose  of  God  in  creating 
man.  As  soon  may  we  from  the  study  of  a  dead  body 
obtain  a  correct  idea  of  life,  as  from  the  present  con- 
dition of  man  acqnire  a  correct  conception  of  the  life 
of  God  in  the  soul.  Discordant  humanity  can  afford 
no  clear  revelation  from  God ;  it  can  supply  no 
medium  of  communion  with  God ;  it  can  furnish  no 
power  of  enjoying  God.  God  is  not  in  the  heart  and 
life  of  man,  and  therefore  cannot  be  discovered  in  the 
nature  of  man.  From  the  parchment  of  humanity 
the  orioinal  revelation  of  God  has  been  obliterated, 
and  the  legendary  tales  of  the  fathers  written  in  its 
stead. 

Fallen  man  is  not  tlie  manifestation  of  the  Divine, 
the  record  of  the  True.  He  cannot  be  the  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Divine,  for  his  subjective  is  no  longer  the 
counterpart  of  the  subjective  of  God,  and  thus  he 
realises  not  as  God  realises.  He  sees  not  in  the  lio-ht 
of  the  true,  for  his  objective  is  no  longer  one  with  the 
objective  real.  He  realises  not  the  power  of  the  truth, 
nor  can  he  possibly  realise  the  power  and  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  truth,  for  his  efforts  to  realise  the  power 
and  enjoyment  of  the  truth  are  not  in  accordance 
with  the  truth.  What  condescension,  then,  is  in  God 
to  reveal  Himself  to  man,  to  quicken  him  with  the 


56  THE  SCIENCE  OE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

Divine  life,  and  enable  liim  to  enjoy  the  fellowship 
of  the  inner  circle  of  the  Sonship  !  The  sculptor  who 
chisels  the  marble  into  the  noblest  form  of  material 
beanty,  the  painter  who  traces  on  the  canvas  the 
divine   countenance   of  man  in  all  but  the  eiow  of 

O 

life,  do  illustrious  deeds,  and  win  for  themselves 
merited  fame.  If  they  could  confer  life  and  animate 
their  work  with  the  thrill  of  soul,  how  much  higher, 
more  illustrious,  and  noble  would  their  work  be ! 
Could  the  highest  genius  on  earth  confer  on  his 
favourite  animal  his  own  ideal,  emotional,  vital — 
his  own  genius  in  the  highest  form  in  which  it 
could  be  transferred — and  enter  into  the  nearest, 
most  endearing  intercourse  of  life  with  the  subject 
of  his  own  vitality,  he  could  not  confer  a  higher  gift 
on  that  creature.  What,  then,  is  the  condescension 
of  God  in  creating  man  with  a  capacity  for  his  own 
ideal,  emotional,  vital — quickening  him  with  His  own 
life,  and  training  him  in  the  reception  and  interchange 
of  the  Divine  subjective.  Yet  fallen  man,  in  his 
speculative  efforts  and  carnal  endeavours,  is  ever 
labouring  to  frustrate  this  high  and  most  God-like 
design  of  the  Eternal  Father,  by  attempting  to  bring 
down  the  lofty  conception  of  the  Infinite  Mind,  the 
divine  workmanship  of  the  great  God  of  heaven  and 
earth,  within  the  narrow  limits  of  his  own  fallen  ideal 
and  carnal  desires. 


(57) 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE    TRANSMISSION  AND  RECEPTION   OF   TRUTH. 

Having  in  the  last  chapter  considered  truth  in  itself, 
it  may  now  be  profitable  to  inquire  into  matters 
connected  with  its  transmission  and  reception. 

In  order  to  the  transmission  of  truth  the  subjec- 
tive to  which  an  objective  is  addressed  must  be  able 
to  receive  it  in  the  comprehension  of  it.  If  the  sub- 
jective be  in  affinity  with  the  objective  presented,  a 
very  slight  hint  will  lead  to  the  perception  of  it ; 
but  if,  on  the  other  hand,  the  subjective  be  averse  to 
truth,  no  manifestation  will  lead  to  the  full  compre- 
hension and  reception  of  it.  The  history  of  the 
inductive  sciences  afford  brilliant  illustrations  of  the 
former  of  these  facts.  The  slow  progress  in  study  of 
those  who  set  about  it  as  an  unpleasant  task  sufficiently 
establishes  the  latter.  Spiritual  truth  follows  in  its 
transmission  the  laws  which  govern  other  truth.  In 
the  enlightening  of  man  in  the  tliiugs  of  God  there 
must  be  presented  to  him  an  objective  suited  to  his 
condition,  and  at  the  same  time  there  must  be  a 
quickening  of  his  subjective  into  an  affinity  Avitli 
the  objective  presented  to  him.  Here  indeed  is  the 
keystone  of  the  arch.     Man  in  his  fallen  condition  is 


58  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

not  al)le  of  liimself  to  attain  to  a  true  knowledge  of 
God ;  he  has  no  affinity  for  such  knowledge,  and 
when  spiritual  truth  is  presented  to  him,  he  is 
repelled  by  his  dislike  from  it,  and  the  great  work 
of  God  in  man's  recovery  is  the  production  within 
him  of  a  rece^^tivity  for  Himself. 

If  a  creature  has  no  capacity  for  the  indwelling  of 
God,  iu  the  manifestation  of  Himself  God  cannot 
reveal  Himself  to  that  creature;  if  the  creature  has 
no  receptivity  for  the  manifestation  which  God  gives 
of  Himself,  this  creature  can  have  no  acquaintance 
with  God  throuixh  means  of  such  manifestation.  In 
order  to  the  intercourse  of  the  creature  with  God 
there  must  be  a  manifestation  and  a  suitable  recep- 
tivity. Mediation  is  thus  a  necessity  of  communion 
between  the  Infinite  and  the  finite.  The  inner  or 
unknown  of  the  Infinite  must  become  the  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Divine  and  the  knowable  of  the  finite — 
i.e.,  the  subjective  of  the  Infinite  must  become  the 
objective  in  revelation,  and  the  objective  of  revelation 
must  become  the  subjective  of  the  human  ;  and  the 
manifestation  of  the  Divine  must  be  conditioned  to 
the  circumstances  of  man,  and  the  subjective  of  man 
must  be  made  sympathetic  with  the  revelation  of  the 
subjective  of  God.  There  must  be  a  pure  receptivity 
in  the  human  ere  there  can  be  an  incarnate  life  of  the 
Infinite  in  man  ;  in  other  words,  a  communion  of  the 
finite  with  the  Infinite  through  the  indwelling  of  the 
Son  of  God.  Were  a  manifestation  of  the  Divine  or 
a  revelation  of  the  subjective  of  God  given  to  man 
which  was  not  cognisable  to  the  spiritual  perception 


TRANSMISSION  AND  RECEPTION  OF  TRUTH.  59 

of  man,  God  would  not  tlirougli  means  of  it  be 
known  to  man  ;  and  if  man  had  no  organ  of  God- 
consciousness,  or  inner  eye  of  discernment,  lie  could 
receive  no  immediate  manifestation  of  God.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  the  organ  of  God-consciousness  is 
dormant,  and  the  heart  preoccupied  with  a  spirit  of 
antagonism  to  the  Divine,  man  cannot  close  in  with 
the  manifestation  of  God  or  enter  into  delightful 
fellowship  with  Him.  Were  a  human  being  born 
into  the  world  destitute  of  the  bodily  senses,  he  could 
hold  no  intercourse  with  his  fellow-men — he  would 
be  shut  up  within  himself  and  isolated  from  all 
around  him;  but  if  one  after  another  of  the  senses 
w^ere  imparted  to  him,  then  as  each  was  bestowed  he 
would  be  elevated  in  the  scale  of  existence,  and 
enabled  to  enter  into  correspondingly  enlarged  inter- 
course with  his  fellow-men.  Again,  if  his  senses  were 
in  such  a  diseased  and  perverted  state  that  their  exer- 
cise could  only  afford  to  him  pain,  and  if  the  objects 
coming  into  contact  with  his  senses  could  only  in- 
tensify that  pain,  then  would  he  turn  away  from  such 
objects  and  shut  up  himself  within  himself,  and  seek 
to  occupy  himself  with  anything  that  might  relieve 
him  of  his  pain.  On  the  other  hand,  if  a  being  were 
created  with  a  hundred  senses,  and  placed  in  the 
centre  of  blank  space  with  no  ol)ject  near  him  on 
which  he  could  exercise  his  senses,  then,  however 
acute  or  perfect  those  senses  might  be,  he  could  not 
exercise  them. 

But  take  now  the  case  of  an  individual  who  possesses 
all  his  senses  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation,  and  who 


6o  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

is  surrounded  with  all  tliat  is  necessary  to  tlieir  pro- 
per exercise,  sucli  a  one  would  as  a  matter  of  course 
possess  the  means  of  high  enjoyment  and  agreeable 
intercourse.  And  thus  it  is  with  the  mind  and  the 
spirit  of  man ;  for  if  an  individual  is  born  into  the 
world  and  continues  all  his  time  in  it  in  a  state 
of  insanity,  he  is  excluded  from  the  higher  regions  of 
intellectual  life,  and  from  the  exercise  and  enjoyment 
of  rational  fellowship.  Or  were  he  endowed  with  the 
highest  genius,  but  destitute  of  an  adequate  manifes- 
tation of  the  Divine — in  other  words,  left  entirely  to 
himself  in  this  matter — then  would  he  have  no  suitable 
employment  for  his  lofty  powers  in  things  pertaining 
more  nearly  to  God ;  he  could  hare  no  fellowship  with 
the  Father  of  spirits  through  means  of  the  interchange 
of  thought  and  affection.  But  further,  supposing  that 
innumerable  manifestations  of  the  Divine  were  dis- 
played around  him,  and  endless  gifts  of  eternal  love 
bestowed  upon  him,  yet  were  the  God-conscious 
organ  of  his  spirit  blind,  he  could  have  no  fellowship 
with  God.  The  God-conscious  faculty  can  never  of 
itself  attain  to  the  needful  manifestation  of  the 
Divine,  it  cannot  j)cnetrate  the  inner  recesses  and 
discover  the  secrets  of  Godhead.  The  intuitional 
consciousness  can  read  only  what  is  in  man,  tlie 
intellect  can  only  contemplate  the  facts  and  operation 
of  nature,  and  reason  can  legitimately  infer  only 
rational  results  ;  faith,  however,  beholds  the  manifes- 
tations of  the  Divine,  and  fellowship  enlarges  with 
experience.  If,  then,  there  be  no  distinction  between 
nature  and  God — in  other  words,  if  there  be  no  per- 


TRANSMISSION  AND  RECEPTION  OF  TRUTH.  6i 

sonal  God,  there  can  of  course  be  no  commnnica- 
tion  between  God  and  man;  but,  on  the  contrary,  if 
nature  be  the  creature  of  God,  and  man  the  offspring 
of  the  Father  of  spirits,  then  as  the  human  father  can 
communicate  his  will  to  liis  son,  so  may  God  reveal 
Himself  to  man  ;  or  as  a  medical  practitioner  may  act 
on  the  brain  of  the  insane  so  as  to  draw  out  his 
thoughts  into  lucid  order,  so  may  God  act  on  the 
heart  of  the  sinner  to  turn  him  to  Himself. 

The  subject-matter  of  a  revelation  to  fallen  man 
must  be  supernatural,  a  communication  from  God  to 
man  of  that  which  is  out  of  and  beyond  man's  power 
of  discovery.  God  can  hardly  be  supposed  to  com- 
municate by  supernatural  means  to  man  anything 
within  the  reach  of  his  natural  powers.  Man  with 
pen  and  ink  can  trace  his  thoughts  on  paper,  he  can 
combine  the  mechanical  powers  so  as  within  certain 
limits  to  accomplish  his  will,  he  can  rej^roduce  his 
imao-e  and  train  his  offspring  in  his  own  life.  Now,  if 
man  can  do  so  much,  why  should  we  limit  God  ?  He 
can  thunder  in  the  heavens,  and  may  He  not  whisper 
in  the  ear?  He  can  paint  with  the  frost  on  the  polished 
glass,  and  may  He  not  depict  on  the  mind  of  the  seer? 
He  can  regenerate  the  soul,  and  may  He  not  suggest 
to  the  spirit  ?  He  created  the  intuitional  consciousness 
of  man,  and  may  He  not  elevate  it  to  read  inner 
visions  afforded  to  the  spirit  ?  He  produced  the  God- 
conscious  faculty  in  the  human  soul,  and  may  He  not 
quicken  it  with  His  spirit  ?  He  incarnated  His  Son,  and 
may  He  not  reveal  Himself  to  man  ?  Man  through 
means  of  his  senses  receives  impressions  from  material 


62  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

things,  by  means  of  liis  mind  he  receives  eternal, 
immutable,  and  indestructible  ideas,  and  may  he  not 
throuo-h  the  elevation  of  his  intuitional  consciousness 
perceive  the  objective  and  subjective  Divine,  and  by 
the  quickening  of  his  God-conscious  faculty  see  God  ? 
External  things  with  external  evidence  come  to  him 
through  his  senses,  mathematical  ideas  with  demon- 
stration come  to  him  through  his  intellect,  and  moral 
truth  with  conviction  comes  to  him  through  his  con- 
science, and  may  not  revelation  from  God  come  to 
him  through  his  realisation  of  the  Divine  ?  In  sleep 
one  part  of  man's  nature  is  dormant  while  another  is 
active,  and  while  man  is  asleep  the  action  of  thought 
in  him  is  occupied  with  delusions.  In  the  realities  of 
being  there  is  nothing  corresponding  with  the  ideal 
of  the  sleeper.  In  Scripture  sleep  is  an  emblem  of 
the  natural  or  unre2:enerate  state.  In  the  natural 
state  man  only  dreams  of  the  Divine,  his  ideal  of  the 
Divine  has  nothing  corresponding  to  it  in  the  realities 
of  God.  Waiving  the  question  as  to  whether  an 
unfallen  creature,  irrespective  of  Divine  communica- 
tion, can  sound  the  deeper  depths  of  Deity,  must  it 
not  be  evident  that  with  his  God-conscious  faculty 
dormant,  his  subjective  averse  to  the  holy,  man  will 
be  separate  from  God  and  perceive  the  Divine  only  in 
dreamland  ?  If  his  intuitional  consciousness  discern 
only  the  fanciful,  his  ideal  of  the  Divine  cannot 
correspond  with  the  realities  of  God.  And  does  not 
human  experience  prove  that  such  is  the  case  ?  Man, 
irrespective  of  the  light  of  revelation,  has  not  arrived 
at  correct  conceptions  of  God  ;    and  even  with  the  aid 


TRANSMISSION  AND  RECEPTION  OE  TRUTH.  63 

of  revelation,  men,  speculating  instead  of  believing, 
reach  not  conceptions  which  satisfy  the  intellect  and 
the  heart-knowledge  in  which  all  agree.  And  why 
not  ?  Because  of  the  aversion  of  the  subjective  of  man 
to  its  own  disturbance  and  to  the  objective  of  God. 
Man  has  clear  conceptions  of  abstract  truth,  but  not 
of  God  and  Divine  things.  If,  then,  we  hold  to  the 
doctrine  tliat  all  truth  comes  from  God,  and  that  all 
truth  is  in  God,  how  can  we  account  for  the  fact  that 
man  possesses  clear  conceptions  of  abstract  truth,  but 
has  no  correct  idea  of  God  and  Divine  things  ?  Does 
God  reveal  Himself  in  abstractions  to  the  spirit  of  man 
and  not  in  divine  quickenings  ?  Man's  spiritual  is 
disordered,  and  as  the  lunatic  refuses  to  acknowledge 
his  lunacy  and  the  prejudiced  his  prejudice,  so  does 
man  refuse  to  acknowledo"e  his  "  carnal." 

Man  of  himself  has  no  discernment  of  God  or  agree- 
able  intercourse  with  Him,  yet  man  is  conscious  of  a 
spiritual  in  his  life — i.e.,  he  is  conscious  of  a  super- 
natural force  within  which  acts  on  his  physical  so  as 
to  impel  or  restrain  its  operations.  The  distinction 
between  the  subjective  and  the  objective  of  the  spirit- 
ual and  physical  is  involved  in  the  very  nature  of 
things,  and  made  much  more  apparent  by  sin.  K 
man  possesses  not  only  an  intuitional  consciousness 
but  also  a  God-conscious  faculty,  he  must  possess  a 
capacity  for  immediate  communion  with  God ;  and 
were  he  to  be  for  ever  deprived  of  the  enjoyment  of 
fellowship  with  his  Father  in  heaven,  he  could  not  be 
a  son  nor  realise  the  filial  life. 

If,  then,  God  is  to  reveal  Himself  to  man,  how  is 


64  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRIIUAL  LIFE. 

He  to  do  so  ?  Is  He  to  force  on  tlie  averse  subjective 
tliat  wliicli  it  dislikes  ?  Siicli  cannot  be  the  case,  it 
is  mucli  more  likely  that  God  shall  reveal  Himself  in 
a  manner  suited  to  the  condition  of  man's  subjective, 
and  also  do  so  with  a  view  to  quicken  that  subjective 
into  harmony  with  the  manifestation  given.  As  the 
educator  must  present  instruction  to  the  child,  level 
to  his  capacity,  and  the  physician  administer  medicine 
suited  to  the  condition  of  his  patient,  so  must  God. 
reveal  Himself  in  a  manner  level  to  the  capacity  and. 
suited  to  the  circumstances  of  the  sinner.  And  as 
truth  contains  in  itself  what  is  level  to  the  capacity  of 
the  child  and  what  is  beyond  the  comprehension  of 
an  archanfrel,  so  must  that  revelation  which  discloses 
the  deep  things  of  God  to  man  be  both  level  to  the 
capacity  of  man  and  be  beyond  the  present  apprehen- 
sion of  finite  intelligence.  And  as  the  child  would,  be 
esteemed  very  silly  and  precocious  who  might  refuse  to 
submit  to  the  teaching  of  a  parent  because  he  could  not 
in  his  first  lesson  comprehend  all  that  was  meant,  in 
like  manner  should  be  esteemed  the  man  who,  because 
he  cannot  in  his  first  glance  of  revelation  comprehend 
the  deepest  depths  of  the  Divine,  should  reject  that 
revelation.  And  as  the  child  would  be  sure  only  to  err 
who  would  only  receive  such  instruction  as  was  pleasant 
and  agreeable  to  him,  so  must  it  be  with  the  man  who, 
instead  of  yielding  up  implicitly  his  heart  and  mind 
to  the  truth  of  revelation,  endeavours  to  bring  the 
doctrine  of  God  into  conformity  with  his  tastes  and 
previously-conceived  notions.  And  how  presumptuous 
is  it  in  man,  who  cannot  comprehend  his  own  being  in 


TRANSMISSION  AND  RECEPTION  OF  TRUTH.    65 

the  movements  of  liis  own  life,  to  refuse  to  listen  to 
the  voice  of  revelation  because  it  informs  him  of 
things  which  is  beyond  the  sphere  of  his  comprehen- 
sion !  God  may  employ  humanity  to  emit  certain 
sounds,  use  man  as  a  dreamer  to  dream  particular 
dreams,  as  a  seer  to  see  and  describe  heavenly 
visions,  as  a  herald  to  convey  His  message,  as  a 
reasoner  to  reason  out  His  suggestions,  as  a  body  for 
His  Spirit  to  dwell  in.  Personality  and  its  indi- 
vidualities enter  into  the  very  nature  of  man  ;  and 
as  the  construction  of  a  trumpet  affects  the  sound 
that  passes  through  it,  the  character  of  the  dreamer 
the  dream,  the  acuteness  of  the  eye  of  the  seer  the 
vividness  of  the  vision,  the  intellect  of  the  reasoner 
the  charactex  of  the  reasoning,  so  does  the  personality 
of  the  inspired  the  phase  of  the  inspiration  that 
passes  through  him.  This  is  manifest  in  all  the 
aspects  of  revelation  from  Balaam  to  John. 

The  visual  discernment  of  the  seer  did  not  surmount 
the  objective  manifestations  and  quickening  opera- 
tions of  the  Divine.  The  Spirit's  communications 
were  conditioned  to  the  manifestation  of  the  Son  ;  for 
if  the  Son  be  the  revelation  of  the  Father,  if  He  be 
the  subjective  and  objective  of  the  Infinite  and 
Eternal,  if  "  in  Him  dwells  the  fulness  of  the  God- 
head bodily,"  then  he  who  sees  the  Son  must  see  the 
Father ;  and  if  it  be  the  province  of  the  Spirit  in  His 
revelation  of  the  Divine  as  He  quickens  the  human  to 
take  the  things  which  are  Christ's  and  show  them  to 
the  believer,  if  the  function  of  the  Spirit  in  insj)iring' 
the  apostles  was  to  bring  to  their  recollections  what- 

E 


66  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

soever  Christ  had  spoken,  tlien  the  Spirit's  communi- 
cations, in  the  inner  revelations  He  affords  to  the 
disciple,  must  wholly  harmonise  witli  the  manifesta- 
tions of  the  fulness  of  the  times.  And  tlms  the 
manifestations  of  tlie  Son  will  he  apprehended  by 
man  only  as  he  is  quickened  in  the  organ  of  his  God- 
consciousness  by  the  Spirit ;  and  as  the  final  end  of  all 
revelation  is  to  make  "every  knee  to  bow,  and  every 
tonirue  to  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the 
glory  of  God  the  Father  "— 2. e.,  to  display  tlie  Son  as 
head  over  all — all  Divine  revelation  must  be  pre- 
fifrurativc  of  and  subservient  to  the  manifestations  of 
the  Son.  And  thus  tliere  can  be  no  inner  visions 
from  God  to  man,  or  internal  revelations  of  the 
Divine  to  the  believer  that  in  any  way  differ  from 
the  outer  revelations  of  the  Son  to  the  world.  The 
province  of  the  Spirit  is  not  merely  to  reveal  Christ, 
but,  in  order  to  His  reception  in  the  inner  life,  to 
produce  a  receptive  subjective  in  man  ;  and  this  work 
of  the  Spirit  is  not  completed  all  at  once,  as  is 
apparent  in  the  experience  of  Peter,  wdio,  after  lie 
had  announced  the  reception  of  the  Gentiles  into  the 
Church,  required  the  vision  of  the  sheet  let  down  by 
the  four  corners  to  prepare  him  for  preaching  to 
Cornelius. 

Man's  tendency  to  the  formal  and  corrupt,  and  his 
aversion  to  the  sj^iritual  and  divine,  have  been  mani- 
fest in  all  ages.  In  man's  fallen  condition  sense  has 
ever  been  strue^o-linfic  to  absorb  soul,  Christ  Himself 
found  it  a  most  difficult  w-ork  to  enlighten  the  minds 
even  of  His  disciples.      His  complaint  to  them  was. 


TRANSMISSION  AND  RECEPTION  OF  TRUTH.  67 

"  I  have  many  things  to  say  unto  you,  but  j^ou  can- 
not bear  them  now."  He  had  to  wait  for  favourable 
moments  in  their  states  of  receptivity  to  communi- 
cate to  them  His  truth,  and  to  adapt  His  statement 
of  it  to  them  as  they  were  able  to  receive  it.  If,  then, 
a  revelation  capable  of  lifting  man  out  of  his  down- 
ward tendency  was  to  be  afforded  him,  it  was  neces- 
sary that  this  revelation  should  be  communicated  in 
such  a  manner  as  was  most  fitted  to  counteract  the 
biases  of  his  fallen  nature.  The  "diversity  of  gifts," 
the  "sundry  times,"  the  "divers  manners"  in  which 
God  spake  to  the  prophets,  the  numerous  forms,  the 
many  individuals  He  employed,  were  all  necessary 
to  the  adequate  conveyance  of  the  truth  to  man,  and 
all  subservient  to  the  Church's  arriving  at  correct 
understanding  of  the  revelation  of  God.  Diversity  in 
form  and  variety  in  letter  affect  not  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit  nor  the  oneness  of  the  truth.  Sounds,  signs, 
and  words  are  necessary  to  the  transmission  of  ideas  : 
the  formal,  ritual,  and  ceremonial  to  the  spiritual; 
the  Jewish  dispensation  to  the  Christian  Church  ;  the 
body  to  the  indwelling  of  the  soul.  The  letter  is  not 
but  for  the  idea,  the  manifestation  is  not  but  for  the 
Spirit ;  and  the  manifestation  is  in  accordance  with 
its  Spirit,  the  language  in  accordance  with  the  idea, 
and  the  body  is  moulded  by  the  soul  which  animates 
it. 

While  God  is  superior  to  the  manifestations  He 
gives  of  Himself,  and  is  not  necessitated  to  manifest 
Himself,  yet  if  He  does  reveal  Himself,  then  the 
revelation  He  gives  must  be  conditioned  by  the  mode 


68  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

He  adopts.  As  tlie  flame  is  coutained  in  and  condi- 
tioned in  its  brightness  by  the  atmospliere  in  which 
it  burns,  as  the  soul  is  contained  in  and  conditioned 
in  its  operations  of  physical  life  by  the  faculties  of 
the  body,  so  in  transmission  the  idea  is  contained  in 
and  also  conditioned  by  the  language  in  which  it  is 
expressed.  The  Logos  or  Sou  of  God  is  contained  in 
the  Son  of  man,  and  conditioned  in  His  manifesta- 
tions of  the  Divine  to  the  world  by  the  sayings  and 
doino;s  of  the  Man  Christ  Jesus. 

Thought  or  idea,  in  passing  from  the  Infinite  Mind 
to  the  finite  mind,  must  be  conditioned  by  the 
medium  of  conveyance.  But  if  the  Divine  be  com- 
municated without  a  medium  of  transmission,  if  it  be 
made  known  directly  by  God,  is  it  conditioned  in  its 
transmission  and  qualified  in  its  reception  ?  Does 
God  reveal  Himself  only  or  chiefly  in  thought  ?  Does 
He  not  communicate  Himself  supremely  in  love  ? 
Is  not  the  finite  dependent  on  the  Infinite  for  all, 
and  especially  for  its  most  direct  communings  with 
God  ?  Does  not  the  sjDirit  of  man  receive  directly  as 
well  as  indirectly  from  God ;  and  is  not  the  spirit  of 
man  capable  of  immediate  contact  with  God,  of  direct 
reception  and  immediate  indwelling  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  ?  An  incarnation  of  the  Divine  has  taken  place. 
All  communication  from  God  to  man  is  subordinate 
to  the  indwelling  of  God  in  man.  The  spirit  of  man 
was  created  in  the  image  of  God  ;  and  if  so,  it  must 
contain  in  it  a  capacity  for  the  Divine  and  possibility 
of  God's  indwelling.  And  may  not  the  spirit  of  man, 
through  the  quickening  of  its  organ  of  God-conscious- 


TJ^ANSiMISSION  AND  RECEPTION  OF  TRUTH.  69 

ness,  look  directly  on  God ;  and  may  not  God  com- 
municate to  the  quickened  spirit  without  the  inter- 
vention of  a  medium  what  the  world  cannot  have 
revealed  to  it  ?  And  if  so,  must  not  such  communi- 
cation be  more  immediate  than  any  transmission 
throuoh  lano-uao-e  ?  AVhat  is  life  ?  has  it  a  form  ? 
Is  the  filling  of  the  believing  spirit  of  man  with  "  all 
the  fulness  of  God "  accomplished  through  means  of 
forms  ?  May  not  the  Spirit  of  God  flash  upon  the 
eye  of  the  soul  what  cannot  be  uttered  in  form  or 
expressed  in  language  ?  Did  not  Paul  in  the  third 
heavens  come  into  contact  with  the  unutterable  ? 

Truth  is  one  in  God,  but  are  the  manifestations  of 
truth  in  its  outo-oinsrs  from  Him  invariable,  and  is 
truth  in  its  apprehensions  by  man  uniform  ?  Is  tlie 
spirit  of  man  in  his  fallen  condition  capaljle  of  appre- 
hending the  higher  phases  of  truth  %  Was  not  a 
subjective  quickening,  even  in  the  case  of  some  of  the 
prophets,  necessary  to  their  becoming  the  vehicles  of 
the  higher  forms  of  Old  Testament  revelation,  to  their 
reception  of  the  inbreathing  of  the  Divine,  to  their 
beholding  the  visions  of  the  Son  of  God  ?  And  was 
not  a  higher  degree  of  subjective  quickening  necessary 
to  the  apostles  for  their  more  spiritual  apj^rehensions 
of  the  higher  visions  of  the  risen  One,  that  from  their 
own  realisations  of  the  Divine  they  might  communi- 
cate visions  and  revelations  to  the  Church  ?  And  is 
not  a  regeneration  or  quickening  with  the  Divine  still 
necessary  for  the  reception  of  spiritual  truth  ?  Is  it 
not,  and  shall  it  not  ever  be,  that  just  as  we  come 
into  a  oneness  of  Spirit,  we  shall  come  into  a  oneness 


70  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

of  mind,  a,  knowledge  of  tlie  truth,  a  consciousness  of 
the  life  of  God  ? 

The  letter  can  neither  express  nor  give  full  utter- 
ance to  the  Spirit,  nor  can  the  God-conscious  faculty 
in  man,  while  in  its  diseased  state,  see  God,  Somej 
aspects  of  philosophic  and  scientific  thought,  by  the 
manner  in  which  they  treat  these  lofty  themes,  would 
lead  us  into  error.  We  cannot  but  regard  all  specula- 
tion resjDecting  the  undisclosed  things  of  God  as  an 
attempt  to  s|)ell  from  the  alphabet  of  creation  in  the 
light  of  nature  the  name  of  God,  and  from  the  present 
condition  of  life  in  man  to  deduce  the  character  and 
learn  the  mind  of  God.  But  no  finite  can  fully 
express  the  Infinite,  and  no  condition  of  the  creature 
can  adequately  make  known  the  Creator,  much  less 
can  a  disturbed  creation  and  a  fallen  finite.  Science 
and  speculation  must  for  ever  fail  in  their  attempts  to 
extract  from  the  un  and  anti  Divine  condition  of 
humanity  an  adequate  conception  of  the  being,  per- 
fections, and  character  of  God ;  but  faith,  beholding 
as  with  open  face  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the  Lord  so 
as  to  be  changed  into  the  same  image,  can  compre- 
hend the  love  of  God,  and  is  able  to  grasp  the  mani- 
festation of  the  Divine. 

Faith  is  the  yielding  up  the  heart  to  God  in  the 
reception  of  the  Divine,  it  is  the  recognition  of  God 
in  that  revelation  which  discloses  His  purpose  and^ 
makes  Him  known  to  man ;  and  thus  through  faith's 
reception  of  the  truth  the  spirit  of  man  becomes 
conscious  of  the  Divine  life,  the  believer  in  Christ 
receives  the  Spirit,  lives  the  life,  possesses  the  mind 


TRANSMISSION  AND  RECEPTION  OF  7 RUTH.  71 

of  God,  and  will  hereafter  "know  as  lie  is  known," 
"see  face  to  face,"  and  "be  filled  Avitli  all  tlie  fulness 
of  God."  But  man  on  earth  cannot  see  God,  flesh 
and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom,  corruption 
cannot  put  on  incorruption.  Affinity  of  nature  and 
identity  of  life  are  necessary  to  community  of  mind  and 
intercourse  of  soul.  A  stone  cannot  realise  a  sensation, 
a  brute  cannot  comprehend  an  argument,  or  an  angel 
live  a  renewed  life  ;  and  Avhy  ?  because  they  have  no 
receptivity  for  these  things.  Kevelation  is  the  mani- 
festation of  the  Son  of  God  ;  but  the  Son  of  God  is 
not  fully  disclosed  in  the  written  Word,  nor  was  He 
fully  seen,  known,  or  comprehended  by  any  of  His 
disciples  in  the  days  of  His  flesh,  nor  has  He  since 
been  seen  alike  by  any  two  believers.  The  four 
Evangelists  did  not  see  Him  alike,  nor  did  they 
severally  exhibit  Him  in  the  same  phase  of  cha- 
racter. 

Nor  is  this  difierence  peculiar  to  man's  contempla- 
tion of  the  Divine,  it  enters  more  or  less  into  all  human 
belief.  No  two  individuals  ever  gazed  upon  any  one 
object  so  as  to  receive  the  exact  same  impression  from 
it,  nor  'is  the  same  realisation  by  two  or  more  disciples 
necessary  to  faith  in  Christ  and  fellowship  with  Him, 
It  may  be  desirable  to  have  the  same  realisations,  but 
this  state  has  not  yet  been  reached,  nor  will  it  pro- 
bably be  attained  to  on  earth,  nor  is  it  necessary  to 
saving  acquaintance  with  Christ.  Humanity  is  one 
and  the  same  in  all  the  difl"erent  individuals  of  the 
race,  but  no  two  of  the  human  family  possess  it 
identically  alike ;   human  life  is  essentially  the  same 


72  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

in  all  men,  but  no  two  men  realise  life  alike  or  live 
the  exact  same  life. 

In  adapting  the  revelation  of  Himself  to  the 
present  condition  of  man,  it  was  necessary  for  God 
to  restrain  as  far  as  it  was  possible  the  corrupting 
tendencies  of  the  human  heart  from  perverting  the 
spiritual  to  the  purposes  of  the  formal.  And  pro- 
bably this  is  one  of  the  ends  contemplated  in  the 
numerous  and  peculiar  modes  employed  by  God 
in  giving  to  man  a  revelation  of  Himself.  Diversity 
in  the  statement  of  the  same  thino;  mav  lead  different 
individuals  to  a  like  conception  of  it.  Is  not  this 
actually  realised  by  the  spiritual  in  Christ  of  the  dif- 
ferent denominations  ?  Are  they  not  far  more  one  at 
the  throne  of  grace,  in  their  realisations  of  spiritual 
life  and  in  their  apprehensions  of  Christ,  than  they 
are  aware  of  or  will  acknowledofe  when  enjxaired  in 
their  denominational  strifes,  or  actuated  by  their 
sectarian  feelings  ?  This  fact  surely  warrants  us  in 
coming  to  the  conclusion  that  the  different  state- 
ments of  the  same  truth,  or  varied  modes  of  pre- 
senting the  same  thing,  may  lead  different  individuals 
to  the  same  conception  of  it.  Do  not  the  four 
Gospels  help  us  to  a  fuller,  clearer,  more  correct  and 
uniform  view  of  the  Son  of  God  than  any  one  of  them 
could  have  done  ? 

Certainly  the  same  statement  of  any  subject  of 
discourse  does  not  lead  all  that  listen  to  it  to  the 
same  conception  of  it.  The  speaker  in  a  discourse  is 
one,  his  discourse  as  uttered  by  him  is  the  same 
to  all    his   hearers ;  the   ideas  expressed,   the  words 


TRANSMISSION  AND  RECEPTION  OF  TRUTH.   73 

spoken,  are  the  same  to  all  tlie  assembly,  but  tlie 
impression  or  conception  of  tlie  discom'se  is  not 
exactly  the  same  in  any  two  of  his  audience.  Could 
he  in  uttering  his  discourse  employ  a  variety  of  style 
and  diversity  of  expression,  he  would  lead  the  dif- 
ferent individuals  in  the  same  assembly  to  a 
more  uniform  conception  of  the  spirit  of  his  dis- 
course. 

The  end  of  revelation  is  the  disclosure  of  the 
Divine  to  the  human,  and  the  instrument  which  God 
employs  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  end  is  the 
inspired  presence  exhibiting  Christ  to  the  eye  of  faith. 
Are  the  inspired  writers,  then,  in  the  illustrations 
which  they  draw  from  nature,  providence,  and  creation, 
bound  to  make  use  of  such  expressions  as  fit  exactly  in 
with  the  past,  present,  and  future  views  of  scientific 
and  philosophic  men  ?  Surely  not.  They  have  one 
object  in  view,  and  whatever  is  best  fitted  to  gain 
that  end  they  will  certainly  employ.  Style  in  inspired 
composition,  or  the  suitableness  of  this  word  over 
that,  is  not  thought  of.  In  fervid  thought  or  intense 
writing,  the  words  arise  in  the  mind  as  the  spirit 
kindles  and  the  heart  glows,  and  the  words  which 
tlius  arise  are  the  most  suitable  clothino;  for  the  ideas 
which  spring  up  in  the  inspired  mind.  The  glowing 
strains  of  poetry  do  not  exhaust  the  sublime  enthusiasm 
of  the  poet,  and  much  less  does  the  dull  and  unim- 
passioned  mind  of  the  mere  prosaic  reader,  in  perusing 
the  eloquent  effusions  of  the  poet,  realise  the  spiritual 
of  his  verse.  Is  there  not  in  the  lofty  mind  what 
language  cannot  express,  and  is  there  not  in  the  sub- 


74  THE  SCIENCE  QF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

lime  utterances  of  liigli  themes  what  dull  spirits  can- 
uot  perceiv^e  ?  Doubtless,  diversity  of  utterance  does 
assist  different  minds  in  coming  to  like  conception, 
and  tliis  fact  throws  light  on  the  difference  of  style 
and  diversity  of  mode  employed  by  God  in  revealing 
His  will  to  man.  No  two  statements  in  Scripture  of 
the  same  thing,  nor  any  two  references  to  the  same 
event,  discourse,  or  sayiug,  nor  any  one  quotation  in 
the  New  Testament  from  the  Old,  are  verbally  alike. 
Now,  are  w^e  to  regard  this  fact  in  the  composition  of 
inspired  Scripture  as  the  result  of  carelessness  or 
accident  ?  Surely  not ;  it  is  doubtless  designed  to 
teach  us  that  it  is  the  spirit  and  not  the  language  of 
revelation  that  is  the  truth  of  God. 

The  controversies,  then,  about  the  modes  and  forms 
of  revelation,  the  verbal  or  plenary  nature  of  inspira- 
tion, or  the  scientific  correctness  of  certain  expressions 
in  particular  portions  of  the  sacred  volume,  are  after 
all  but  of  secondary  importance ;  without  the 
quickening  of  the  Spirit  no  form  even  of  inspired 
truth  will  lead  man  to  a  spiritual  knowledge  of  God, 
and  in  the  quickening  of  the  Spirit  the  form  most 
suitable  to  the  case  in  hand  will  be  applied  in  order 
to  bring  men  severally  to  conviction.  There  is, 
doubtless,  in  the  numerous  phases  of  the  fallen  heart, 
a  need  of  the  varied  modes  of  revelation ;  and  the 
employment  of  these  varied  forms  of  inspiration  dis- 
plays in  richer  manner  the  Divine  condescension,  and 
teaches  men  to  look  to  the  Spirit  of  God  for  aid 
in  the  study  of  Divine  truth,  and  to  come  to  the  con- 
viction  that  as    the   mind  of  the   ins2:)ired  penman 


TRANSMISSION  AND  RECEPTION  OF  TRUTH.   75 

yielded  up  to,  and  for  the  time  being  was  lost  to 
himself  in,  the  spirit  of  inspiration,  so  the  carnal  life 
of  the  believer  is  destroyed  in  the  measure  of  the 
•  indwellinof  of  the  Divine  in  his  soul.  The  end  of 
inspiration  was  to  prepare  for  the  coming  of,  and 
to  express  the  sayings  and  doings  of  the  Son  of  God ; 
and  as  the  end  of  revelation  required  that  the  mode 
adopted  should  most  effectually  exclude  the  iDfluencing 
tendencies  of  the  mediums  through  which  it  passed, 
so  must  the  Divine  life  in  the  believer  rise  su^^erior 
to  all  the  retarding  of  "  the  carnal,"  and  absorb  the 
soul.  Inspiration  in  its  final  is  the  inbreathing  of 
the  Divine  into  the  human,  the  incarnation  of  the 
Son  of  God  in  the  Son  of  man. 


(  76  ) 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE  PRIMARY  LAWS  OF  PERCEPTION,  OR  THE  CONDITIONED 

OF  HUMAN  BELIEF. 

From  the  very  constitution  of  our  minds  we  are 
forced  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  an  eternal, 
indestructible  distinction  in  the  nature  of  things. 
We  cannot  rest  satisfied  in  the  notion  that  there 
is  a  sameness  in  all  life  and  conduct.  We  cannot 
rest  even  in  a  state  of  doubt  concerning  the  matter. 
Nothing  short  of  absolute  conviction  can  possibly 
satisfy  us  here.  The  law  which  conditions  man's 
thinking  shuts  us  up  to  this  belief. 

The  human  mind  does,  however,  rest  satisfied  in 
the  belief  of  an  essential  distinction  in  the  nature  of 
things.  And  man  needs  no  argument  to  convince 
him  that  such  and  such  a  result  takes  place  in  accord- 
ance with  the  nature  of  tliinos.  The  human  mind 
does  not  fret  at  the  conviction  that  it  cannot  push  an 
inquiry  beyond  the  perception  that  such  a  result 
happens  in  accordance  with  the  immutable  Jaws  of 
all  operation. 

It  is  not  in  the  power  of  sophistry  to  expel  this 
conviction  from  the  human  mind,  nor  can  man  per- 
suade himself  that  even   Omnipotence    can   alter  or 


THE  PRIMARY  LA  WS  OF  PERCEPTION.       77 

destroy  the  necessary  properties  of  being  and  anni- 
liilate  the  essential  distinction  of  things.  Man  cannot 
Ly  any  process  of  sophistication  persuade  himself  or 
convince  others  that  being  and  not  being  are  one  and 
the  same  thino-.  Do  what  he  will,  man  cannot  believe 
any  such  thing  ;  he  cannot,  for  example,  believe  that 
a  straight  line  is  a  curve,  and  that  a  circle  is  a  square. 
Man  cannot  persuade  himself  that  cause  differs  in 
nothing  from  effect.  Do  what  he  will,  man  cannot 
convince  himself  that  wisdom  is  the  same  thing  as 
folly,  that  love  is  the  same  thing  as  hatred,  that  right 
is  identical  with  wrong,  that  virtue  and  vice  are 
synonymous. 

No  ;  do  what  he  will,  man  cannot  persuade  himself 
that  there  is  not  an  indestructible  distinction  between 
these  things.  Neither  can  he  convince  himself  that 
this  distinction  does  not  lie  in  the  very  nature  of 
things.  Man  universally  has  an  indestructible  con- 
viction that  contrary  qualities  belong  to .  contrary 
states  of  being.  He  is  persuaded  that  the  terms 
which  are  employed  to  point  out  these  distinctions 
are  terms  which  have  always  been  emj^loyed  to  desig- 
nate real  qualities  or  essential  distinctions  in  things, 
and  that  these  qualities  and  distinctions  have  their 
foundations  in  the  very  essence  of  existence. 

And  just  as  man  cannot  believe  that  one  and  the 
same  substance  can  be  in  two  contrary  states  or  con- 
ditions of  being  at  one  and  the  same  time,  so  neither 
can  he  believe  that  a  substance  can  pass  from  one 
state  of  existence  into  an  opposite  without  losing  the 
qualities  of  the  former  and   acquiring  those  of  the 


yS  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

latter  state.  It  is,  in  fact,  tlie  j^ossessing  tlie  qualities 
of  a  state  that  determines  a  substance  or  individual 
to  be  in  that  state.  And  it  is  in  tlie  acquiring  tlie 
qualities  of  one  and  in  the  losing  the  qualities  of  the 
other  that  a  substance  passes  from  the  one  state  to 
another.  It  is  only  through  our  perception  of  a  sub- 
stance possessing  the  qualities  of  a  state  that  we  can 
rationally  declare  it  to  be  in  that  state. 

If  we  contemplate  a  straight  line,  and  think  of  it 
as  assuming  the  form  of  a  curve,  we  cannot  any 
longer  think  of  it  as  a  straight  line ;  it  no  lono-er 
indicates  the  shortest  distance  between  the  points  in 
which  its  ends  may  be  laid.  If  we  inscribe  a  circle 
within  a  square,  and  in  thought  try  to  make  the 
periphery  assume  the  form  of  a  square,  then  to  the 
extent  to  which  we  do  so  it  is  clear  the  circle  loses  its 
properties  ;  all  straight  lines  drawn  from  the  centre 
to  its  periphery  would  no  longer  be  equal  to  one 
another,  and  vice  versa  if  we  inscribe  a  square  within 
a  circle.  Our  apprehension  of  all  such  truths  is  con- 
ditioned by  an  absolute  necessity  or  immutable  law 
of  thinking,  a  necessary  principle  or  fixed  condition 
in  the  nature  of  intellectual  being.  And  this  law  of 
thinkiug  is  involved  in  the  very  nature  of  mind. 
And  as  there  is  no  sufficient  reason  for  believino-  that 
our  intellectual  being  is  other  tlian  a  reflex  of  the 
Divine,  this  law  of  thinking,  or  condition  of  belief, 
must  have  its  origin  or  seat  in  the  immutable  prin- 
ciple of  the  uncreated  essence  of  the  Infinite  and 
Eternal  Mind.  And  this  law,  which  necessitates  the 
method  of  our  thinking,  appertains  not  merely  to  the 


THE  PRIMAR  Y  LA  WS  OF  PER  CEPTION.        7  9 

domain  of  matter  or  of  mathematical  forms,  ^^'e  are 
also  convinced  that  it  has  a  place  in  the  sphere  of 
morals,  and  that  it  as  really  belongs  to  the  region  of 
spirit  as  to  the  domain  of  intellect.  On  what  ground, 
for  example,  can  it  be  affirmed  that  spiritual  life  is 
less  exact  or  immutable  in  its  essential  conditions 
than  are  mathematical  properties  or  material  forms  ? 
Is  the  being  of  God,  the  nature  of  Spirit,  or  the 
principles  which  determine  that  nature  in  its  deposi- 
tions, volitions,  and  consciousness,  less  exact  and 
definite  than  the  properties  of  the  circle  or  of 
the  square  ?  We  think  not.  The  constitution  of 
humanity  is  surely  not  less  real  and  immutable  in 
itself  in  all  that  appertains  to  it  than  the  forms  and 
principles  of  mathematical  science.  Existence,  life, 
justice,  harmony,  beauty,  and  bliss  are  not  less  real, 
though  men  may  differ  about  them,  than  the  forms 
of  the  circle  and  the  properties  of  the  square.  Men, 
for  the  most  part,  admit  that  there  are  necessary 
truths,  eternal  relations,  and  distinctions  which 
nothing  can  destroy ;  but  wdiile  many  admit  this 
in  regard  to  mathematical  and  logical  forms,  they 
are  not  so  clear  about  it  in  regard  to  other  forms  of 
truth.  It  is  impossible,  however,  that  we  can  rest 
here.  The  very  perception  of  necessity  in  one  de- 
partment of  truth  naturally  leads  us  to  look  for  the 
like  necessity  in  other  departments. 

There  are  in  the  regions  of  idealism  constitutional 
forms  and  model  conceptions  separate  and  distinct 
from  any  one  actual  existence,  and  thus  it  is  with 
humanity.     We  do  not  say  that  this  ideal  type  or 


So  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LI  IE. 

model  concept  of  liumanity  exists  in  the  linmau  mind 
in  as  clear  a  form  as  does  its  conception  of  the  arch 
or  the  square,  but  surely  we  may  affirm  that  this 
concept  of  man  existed  in  the  Divine  Mind  as  defi- 
nitely as  does  exist  the  concept  of  any  mathematical 
figure  in  the  human  mind.  If  so,  then  surely  the 
concept  was  perfect,  and  man  as  he  came  forth  from 
God's  hand  was  in  harmony  with  it.  And  man,  in 
tlie  measure  in  which  he  comes  up  to  this  model  con- 
cej^t  or  recedes  from  it,  must  from  the  nature  of  the 
case  be  perfect  or  imperfect.  And  if  man  was  created 
l)y  God  in  complete  accordance  with  this  model 
concept,  he  must  have  sprung  from  the  hand  of  his 
Creator  perfect  and  entire.  And  every  human  being 
is  perfect  or  imperfect,  just  in  the  measure  in  which 
he  comes  up  to  or  recedes  from  this  typal  form  of 
humanity  in  the  conceptions  of  God. 

And  who  will  venture  to  say  that  it  is  impossible 
that  the  race  of  mankind  can  have  passed  from  a 
condition  of  conformity  into  a  state  of  discordance 
with  this  model  type  ?  Now,  in  the  event  of  such  a 
transition  taking  place,  it  is  clear  that  man  would  no 
lono-er  be  what  he  was  when  he  came  forth  from  the 
hand  of  his  Creator.  And  as  we  are  unable  to  believe 
that  the  human  body  can  pass  from  a  state  of  perfect 
health  into  one  of  sickness  and  still  retain  the  vigour, 
beauty,  and  buoyancy  of  health,  and  as  we  cannot 
conceive  the  possibility  of  the  human  mind  passing 
from  clear  views  of  truth  into  perplexity  of  error  and 
still  retaining  the  satisfaction  of  lucid  perceptions, 
so  we  cannot  imagine  that  the  human  heart  can  pass 


THE  PRIMA R  Y  LA  WS  OF  PERCEPTION.       8i 

from  love  of  tlie  Divine  into  aversion  to  the  Godlike, 
and  still  enjoy  the  love  of  the  Divine,  In  fine,  we 
cannot  realise  the  possibility  of  man  passing  from  a 
conscious  oneness  of  life  with  God  into  the  realisation 
of  the  evils  of  a  fallen  state,  and  still  retaining  com- 
munion with  God. 

Moreover,  just  as  we  are  unable  to  believe  that  the 
human  body  can  be  in  a  state  of  sickness  without 
experiencing  more  or  less  of  the  prostration  which 
disease  invariably  entails,  as  the  human  mind  cannot 
be  in  a  condition  of  ignorance  and  error  without  more 
or  less  partaking  the  perplexity  that  inevitably  flows 
from  ignorance  and  error — so  we  are  unable  to  believe 
that  the  human  spirit  can  be  conscious  of  wickedness 
without  realising  more  or  less  of  the  upbraidings  of 
conscience.  In  other  words,  we  are  unable  to  believe 
that  a  human  being  can  be  in  contrary  states  at  one 
and  the  same  moment — a  human  body  at  once  in  a 
state  of  sickness  and  of  perfect  health — a  human 
mind  at  once  in  a  condition  of  ignorance  and  of  clear 
perception  of  law  and  duty — a  human  heart  at  once 
ardently  loving  and  bitterly  hating  the  same  being, 
principles,  and  ends  of  life — in  short,  that  a  human 
soul  can  at  one  and  the  same  time  be  spiritually  dead 
and  alive.  And  why  is  this  ?  surely  it  is  because  the 
law  of  human  thinking,  the  principles  of  the  Divine 
administration,  and  the  nature  of  things,  compel  us 
to  it — we  feel  the  impossibility  of  its  being  otherwise. 

We  know  that  man  can  pass  from  one  condition  to 
another — the  body  from  a  condition  of  health  to  a 
state  of  sickness,  the  mind  from  a  condition  of  dis- 


82  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

ccrnment  to  a  state  of  prejudice,  and  the  spirit  from 
the  consciousness  of  tlie  rectitude  of  its  doinirs  to  the 
conviction  of  the  wronirfuhiess  of  its  deeds,  or  the 
converse.  But  we  cannot  believe  that  a  man  can  be 
in  both  these  contrary  states  at  one  and  the  same 
time,  or  that  he  can  be  in  either  state  without  pos- 
sessing tiie  qualities  of  the  state  he  is  in,  or  tliat  he 
can  realise  the  conditions  of  any  state  without  being 
in  that  state. 

If,  then,  we  find  that  humanity  is  destitute  of  the 
qualities  of  a  pure  and  holy  life,  and  that  man  desires 
and  struggles  after  the  benefits  of  a  perfect  condition 
while  manifesting  the  properties  of  a  fallen  and  sinful 
life,  must  we  not  in  these  circumstances  come  to  tlie 
conclusion  that  he  has  passed  from  the  one  state  to 
the  other  ?  And  the  C[uestion,  What  is  man's  natural 
or  orioinal  state?  is  a  momentous  one.  With  a  view 
to  its  solution  w^e  may  point  out  the  fact  that  his 
judgments  are  not  as  correct  as  his  instincts,  his 
dispositions  and  desire's  are  not  what  his  reason 
approves  of ;  nor  are  his  deeds  worthy  of  his  powers, 
means,  and  opportunities.  His  views  of  being,  life, 
and  destiny,  are  not  clear  and  cloudless ;  nor  are  his 
supreme  affections  Godward.  He  does  not  rest  in 
the  love  of  God,  nor  is  he  supremely  desirous  of  being 
conformed  in  life  to  the  Father  of  his  spirit.  His 
conscience  often  condemns  him.  He  has  miso-ivino-s 
about  the  future,  and  dread  of  retriljution.  We  may 
well  ask,  what  are  the  ideas  of  God  which  idolatry  in 
man  has  evolved,  the  ideas  which  infidelity,  ration- 
alism, and  speculation,  have  sketched  ?    Why  are  men 


THE  PRIMAR  Y  LA  WS  OF  PERCEPTION.        ^2> 

ever  striving  to  bring  the  teacliings  of  revelation  into 
conformity  with  their  likings,  instead  of  their  con- 
ceptions into  agreement  with  the  teachings  of  a  jDnre 
and  holy  faith  ?  These  facts,  w^e  think,  indicate  that 
man  is  in  a  fallen  condition.  How,  or  by  what  ^^ar- 
ticular  influence,  instrument,  or  agency,  a  spirit  passes 
from  one  state  into  its  opposite,  belongs  to  a  region  of 
inquiry  which  is  little  known  to  us,  and  in  its  higher 
domain  is  far  out  of  sii^ht.  In  the  belief  of  the 
possibility  of  such  a  transition,  there  is  involved  no 
absurdity  or  contradiction.  The  acquaintance  with, 
or  realisation  of,  the  results  of  such  a  transition  is 
near  to  us,  at  our  very  door — it  lies  in  our  deepest 
consciousness. 

There  is,  then,  in  man  a  necessary  law  of  belief,  a 
conditioned  form  of  thinking.  He  must,  when  the 
matter  is  brought  under  his  notice,  believe  in  an 
immutable  and  eternal  distinction  of  thinixs.  He 
is  shut  up  to  such  a  belief  by  the  constitution  of 
his  mind ;  and  do  what  he  will,  he  cannot  escape 
from  this  law  of  thinking.  He  must  believe  that 
the  state  and  the  qualities  of  the  state  are  inseparable, 
and  that,  if  a  man  passes  from  one  state  to  another, 
he  must  lose  the  qualities  of  the  one  and  acquire  those 
of  the  other. 


(84  ) 


CHAPTER  Y. 

PRINCIPLES   OF   THE   DIVINE   ADMINISTRATION. 

God  reigns  over  a  threefold  kingdom  by  a  duality  of 
law.  His  Sceptre  is  twofold  in  its  sway.  His  reign, 
is  perfect  and  universal.  The  principle  of  duality 
pervades  the  entire  administration  of  the  Most  High. 
By  a  twofold  force  God  governs  His  universe.  By 
force,  negative  and  positive,  attractive  and  repulsive, 
centripetal  and  centrifugal,  God  governs  the  ma- 
terial universe.  By  truth  and  error,  by  knowledge 
and  ignorance,  by  conviction  and  doubt,  God  rules 
over  the  universe  of  mind.  By  love  and  hatred,  by 
desire  and  aversion,  by  consciousness  of  right  and 
conviction  of  wrong,  God  reigns  over  the  universe  of 
spirit. 

No  existence  can  escape  the  control  of  God.  No 
heavenly  body,  however  erratic,  can  wander  beyond 
the  limits  of  space,  or  escape  from  the  influence  of  the 
law  of  attraction  or  repulsion ;  fly  where  it  may,  it 
must  always  move  in  space,  and  under  the  influence 
of  its  primary  laws.  And  as  the  planet  is  ensphered 
in  space,  so  is  the  finite  embosomed  in  tlie  Infinite. 

The    harmonious    operation    of   this    twofold    law 


THE  DIVINE  ADMINISTRATION.  85 

preserves  tlie  beauty,  order,  and  progress  of  the 
material  universe.  The  increment  of  one  power  over 
another  causes  disturbance  and  ofttimes  dissolution  of 
the  several  parts,  but  not  the  annihilation  of  any  one 
of  the  elemental  poAvers.  The  storm  may  rage,  the 
elements  may  battle,  mountain  chains  may  be  dislo- 
cated or  upheaved,  individuals  may  die  and  families 
perish,  yet  in  earth's  greatest  natural  strife,  and  in 
times  of  most  sweeping  devastations,  not  one  atom  of 
matter  perishes,  nor  alters  in  the  least  in  its  essential 
nature.  Mind,  however  capricious,  cannot  surmount 
the  sphere  of  intellect  and  escape  the  region  of 
tliouo;ht.  It  cannot  divest  itself  of  the  influence  of 
truth  and  error,  of  knowledge  and  ignorance.  It 
must  move  in  lioht  or  in  darkness.     If  mind  moves  or 

O 

thinks  at  all,  it  can  only  do  so  under  the  influence 
of  the  true  or  the  false.  The  movements  of  mind 
under  the  influence  of  truth  are  harmonious  and  satis- 
fying, its  movements  under  the  influence  of  error  are 
disunitino-  and  distressing^ ;  and  its  movements 
under  the  contending  influence  of  truth  and  error  are 
conflictive  in  the  direction  and  degree  of  the  prevailing 
power  of  the  movement. 

In  the  struggles  of  mind  with  truth  and  error,  in 
the  descent  of  mind  under  the  bondage  of  falsehood, 
there  is  no  distinction  of  its  intellectual  constitution 
nor  annihilation  of  its  individuality.  Mind,  even  in 
its  degraded  condition,  still  remains  the  sphere  of 
thought,  the  only  difference  being,  that  it  has  become 
the  arena  of  struggle  and  conflict,  the  subject  of  con- 
tending ideas. 


86  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

Spirit,  again,  liowever  rebellious,  cannot  escape  the 
domain  of  consciousness ;  it  cannot  divest  itself  of 
tlie  influeiiC3  of  love  and  Late,  of  the  consciousness 
of  the  rio-htfulness  or  the  wroni^fulness  of  its  deeds,  of 
satisfaction  or  dissatisfaction  with  its  condition  of 
existence.  The  movements  of  Spirit  under  the  power 
of  the  love  of  the  Divine  are  elevating  and  joyous, 
its  movements  under  the  hatred  of  the  true  are  de- 
grading and  tormenting.  The  consciousness  of  the 
rectitude  of  our  doings  is  the  realisation  of  strength 
and  delight  to  the  Spirit.  The  consciousness  of  the 
wrongfulness  of  our  deeds  is  the  realisation  of  weak- 
ness  and  v/oe  to  the  Spirit.  Do  what  it  may,  Spirit 
must  exist  in  a  state  of  love  or  hate,  or  under  their 
contending  influence.  Exert  itself  as  it  may,  it 
cannot  escape  the  conditions  and  obligations  of  its 
endless  existence. 

Every  atom,  then,  that  moves  must  move  under  the 
law  of  attraction  or  repulsion.  Every  mind  that 
thinks  must  think  under  the  sway  of  truth  or  error. 
Every  spirit  that  acts  must  act  under  the  influence  of 
love  or  hatred,  must  realise  the  consciousness  of  the 
rightfulness  of  its  doings,  or  the  wrongfulness  of  its 
deeds,  or  be  tossed  between  their  contending  sway. 
These  we  hold  to  be  the  eternal  laws  of  finite  exist- 
ence. In  one  or  other  of  these  states,  the  spirit 
of  man  must  ever  exist,  and  liy  no  possibility  can  it 
escape  this  necessity  of  its  being.  In  the  harmonious 
operations  of  their  principles,  peace  continues,  vigour 
rules,  and  bliss  is  realised.  In  the  opposition  or 
contention  of  these  principles  conflict  prevails,  weak- 


THE  DIVINE  ADMINISTRATION.  87 

ness     arises,    suffeumo-    is    felt,    and    deo-radation    is 
secured. 

We  sometimes  speak  of  states  of  indifference,  and 
matter,  mind,  and  spirit,  may  for  the  moment  be  so 
poised  as  to  appear  to  be  under  the  control  of  neither 
of  their  opposing  influences,  but  for  the  time  being 
they  are  equally  under  the  sway  of  both.  The 
equilibrium,  however,  can  only  be  of  brief  duration. 
The  one  or  the  other  must  ultimately  triumph.  As  a 
matter  of  course,  we  do  not  here  speak  of  states,  the 
normal  condition  of  which  is  that  of  equilibrium. 

The  principles  by  which  God  governs  His  loyal 
subjects,  the  manifestations  by  which  He  dwells  in 
and  holds  fellowship  with  His  obedient  children,  are 
love,  truth,  and  the  consciousness  of  the  rectitude  of 
being  and  life.  The  powers  by  which  He  reigns  over 
His  rebellious  subjects  and  governs  His  disobedient 
offspring  are  enmity,  error,  and  the  consciousness 
of  the  wronofuluess  of  their  beino;  and  doine: ;  He 
thus  dwells  in  the  consciousness,  and  rules  over  the 
life  of  His  faithful  children,  while  He  dwells  outside 
of  the  consciousness  and  rules  over  the  life  of  His 
rebellious  offspring. 

Man  must  exist  and  realise  within  the  sphere  of 
truth  or  error,  love  or  hatred,  consciousness  of  the 
rio^htfuluess  of  His  cloino;s  or  the  wrono^fulness  of  His 
deeds.  He  may  abandon  the  light  of  the  true,  and 
fall  from  the  love  of  the  Divine  ;  he  may  deprive  him- 
self of  the  consciousness  of  the  rectitude  of  his  doing's 
and  betake  himself  to  a  life  of  ungodliness,  but  escape 
from  any  pair  of  these  correlated  conditions  at  one  and 


88  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

the  same  time  he  cannot.  He  must,  if  he  exist  at 
all,  exist  either  in  the  consciousness  of  the  one  or  the 
other,  or  partly  in  the  one  and  partly  in  the  other. 
In  the  one  condition  his  heavenly  Father  smiles  upon 
him  and  blesses  him,  and  imparts  to  him  a  sense  of 
His  favour  and  presence.  In  the  other  God  frowns 
upon  the  sinner,  and  inflicts  the  penalty  of  His  law 
upon  the  transgressor,  removing  him  to  a  distance 
from  Himself. 

Love  is  an  attracting  principle  of  life  ;  it  unites  the 
soul  in  which  it  reigns  to  whatever  is  beautiful,  or  is 
conceived  to  be  beautiful,  in  being  and  blissful  in 
life.  Love  of  truth  draws  ns  truth  ward,  and  leads 
us  to  the  investio-ation  of  the  true.  Love  of  what  is 
purely  imaginary,  delusive,  and  false,  leads  to  a  belief 
in  what  is  fictitious,  and  produces  a  strong  tendency 
towards  it.  In  like  manner  love  of  the  Divine  draws 
us  Godward  and  assimilates  us  to  the  Holy,  and  love 
of  the  false  and  evil  draws  us  towards  the  evil  one, 
and  ends  in  the  de2;radation  of  ruin  and  life  and  beine:. 

Enmity  is  a  repelling  j^rincij^le.  We  are  averse  to 
what  we  dislike.  Dislike  of  the  true  and  aversion  to 
the  Holy  removes  to  a  distance  from  the  elevating 
influence  of  the  Divine.  So  also  the  dislike  of  the 
illusive,  a  hatred  of  the  false,  keeps  us  at  a  distance 
from  the  imaginary,  false,  and  misleading.  Enmity 
is  a  tormenting  power.  In  the  presence  of  what  we 
hate  we  are  disturbed  and  pained  in  the  degree  of  the 
intensity  of  our  hatred. 

We  do  not  love  the  evil  and  the  false  because  they 
arc  evil   and  false,   i.e.,  under  the  belief  that  they 


THE  DIVINE  ADMINISTRATION.  89 

are  evil  and  false.  Neither  do  we  hate  the  true  and 
shun  the  good  because  they  are  true  and  good,  i.e., 
under  the  belief  that  they  arc  true  and  good,  but 
because  at  the  moment  we  are  under  the  impression 
that  the  true  is  not  true,  and  the  good  is  not  good, 
and  that  the  evil  and  false  are  not  evil  and  false. 
Man  seeks  not  evil  for  its  own  sake.  The  avaricious 
and  selfish  seek  benefit,  distinction,  &c.,  for  their 
own  sake  ;  and  these  things  are  good  in  themselves. 
It  is  not  the  exercise  of  power  in  the  pursuit  of  these, 
but  the  wrong  use  or  perversion  of  power  in  the 
obtaining  of  such,  that  is  evil.  It  is  when  the 
motives,  j^i'iiiciples,  and  ends,  are  not  what  they 
ought  to  be,  that  wrong  is  done  in  the  pursuit  of 
these  things.  AVhcn  the  motive  is  not  obedience 
to  the  will  of  God  but  preference  of  personal  will, 
when  the  end  is  not  general  good  but  self-gratifica- 
tion, evil  and  not  good  is  the  result. 

But  gratification,  benefit,  &c.,  are  not  in  them- 
selves evil,  but  good.  Again,  the  true  and  good  are 
not  disliked  for  their  own  sakes,  but  because  the  true 
often  pains  us  by  revealing  to  us  what  we  dislike,  and 
the  good  by  rec[uiring  of  us  at  times  an  amount 
of  self-denial  we  are  disinclined  to,  are  imagined  to 
be  evil.  Thus  light  and  medicine  are  not  disliked  in 
themselves,  but  because  of  the  pain  which  they  at 
times  subject  us  to.  Light  is  not  looked  upon  as  evil 
in  itself,  but  is  felt  to  be  so,  and  shunned  by  the 
diseased  eye.  Medicine  is  not  thought  to  be  an  evil 
in  itself,  but  because  of  its  bitterness  it  is  disliked 
by  the  sick. 


90  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

In  afFording  us  tlie  love  of  the  godlike,  God  comes 
into  us  and  dwells  in  us  in  the  measure  in  which  we 
cherish  this  love ;  and  we,  in  cherishing  this  love, 
rise  into  the  fellowship  of  the  Divine,  and  draw  near 
to  God  in  the  vision  of  His  glory.  "  He  that  dwelleth 
in  love  dwelleth  in  God,  and  God  in  him,"  In  G^ivinc: 
us  up  to  the  dislike  of  the  true,  God  abandons  us  to 
the  power  of  evil ;  and  we,  in  cherishing  dislike  to  the 
ixodlike,  descend  into  the  conflict  of  darkness  and  woe. 
''  We  have  loved  strangers,  and  after  them  will  we  go." 
"  The  w^ay  of  the  transgressor  is  hard." 

Truth  is  that  which  reveals  God,  and  manifests  the 
Divine.  It  is  that  in  which  the  Divine  comes  down 
to  the  human,  and  in  which  the  Infinite  reveals  Him- 
self to  the  finite.  Truth  is  that  by  which  the  finite 
ascends  into  the  presence  of  the  Infinite,  and  holds 
fellowship  with  the  Divine.  The  Infinite,  by  means 
of  truth,  condescends  to  the  finite,  and,  through  the 
apprehension  of  truth,  the  finite  ascends  to  the  Infin- 
ite. In  the  revelation  of  the  true,  the  Infinite  comes 
within  the  apprehension  of  the  finite.  In  the  belief 
of  the  true,  the  finite  rises  to  the  embrace  of  the 
Infinite,  to  the  delight  and  enjoyment  of  the  Divine. 
They  wdio  live  in  the  love  and  belief  of  the  true, 
dwell  in  the  light  of  God's  countenance. 

Error  is  that  which  presents  the  false  to  the  mind 
in  the  semblance  of  the  true,  the  form  in  the  place  of 
the  substance,  the  shadow  instead  of  the  reality  of 
being.  Error  is  that  which  the  fancy  and  imagina- 
tion, instead  of  the  senses  and  perception,  present  to 
the  mind.     In  the  belief  of  error,  the  subjective  of 


THE  DIVINE  ADMINISTRATION.  91 

tlie  individual  believing  separates  itself  from  and 
becomes  unlike  to  the  objective  real.  The  subjective 
percejDtion  of  the  believer  in  error  is  of  the  objective 
imaginary,  and  not  of  the  objective  real.  In  the 
belief  of  the  false  the  objective  unreal  becomes  to  the 
believer  in  the  false  the  subjective  real.  In  the  belief 
of  the  false  the  mind  of  the  believer  enters  into  union 
with,  and  becomes  moulded  by,  the  false.  And  thus, 
while  an  idol  is  nothing  in  the  realities  of  being,  it 
is  a  terrible  reality  in  the  imagination  of  the  idolater. 
The  consciousness  of  the  rectitude  of  our  doino-  is  a 
strengthening  realisation  in  the  sou].  In  bestowing 
this  consciousness  upon  us,  God  manifests  to  us  His 
admiration  of  our  obedience,  comes  into  us  with  the 
reward  of  His  presence,  and  gives  us  to  realise  a  pure 
and  elevating  joy.  The  consciousness  of  the  wrong- 
fulness of  our  deeds  is  a  weakening  power  in  the 
soul.  In  the  consciousness  of  the  wrono-fulness  of 
our  deeds  we  are  restless  and  helpless ;  we  struggle 
in  vain  to  escape  from  the  consciousness  in  which 
God  gives  us  a  sense  of  His  displeasure  with  our 
life,  while  He  inflicts  upon  us  the  reward  of  our 
transgression,  and  causes  us  to  realise  the  penalty 
of  His  law. 

These  are  eternal  principles  by  which  God  reigns 
in  and  rules  over  the  life  and  being  of  man  ;  princij^les 
which  He  never  has  and  never  will  in  the  least  alter 
or  annul ;  and  every  attempt  to  alter  them,  or  to 
efface  the  consciousness  of  them  from  the  life  while 
necessarily  living  under  their  power,  is  the  highest  of 
all  a,bsurdity. 


92  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

In  creating  man  a  rational  being,  God  Las  made 
liim  capable  of  union  and  communion  with  Himself, 
through  the  medium  of  love,  truth,  and  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  rectitude  of  his  being.  And  in  the  mani- 
festation of  Himself  in  the  revelation  of  the  true,  God 
comes  to  man  and  invites  him  to  enter  into  fellowship 
with  Himself.  And,  in  the  faith  of  the  true,  He  has 
ordained  that  we  shall  realise  this  fellowship. 

These   considerations  throw  liglit   on  the  present 
condition  of  man.      They  show  the  folly  of  his  endea- 
vour to  satisfy  himself  with  the  seen  and  temporal, 
show  the  necessity  of  a  revelation  from  God  and  of 
man's   giving   implicit    attention    to   whatever    God 
reveals  to  him,  if  he  is  to  attain  to  wellbeino-.     It  is 
clear  to  every  observant  eye  that  man  is  neither  in  a 
condition  of  hopeless   despair,    nor  of  perfect    bliss. 
While  selfish  and  opposed  to  God  as  the  creature, 
he  is  generous  and  self-denying  as  the  parent,  child, 
and  relative  ;    wliile  frequently  perplexed  and  utterly 
unable  to  rescue  himself  from  evil,  he  is  capable  of 
comprehending    much    of    his    real    condition,    and 
anxious  to  escape  from  it.     And  all  this  is  accounted 
for,  on  the  principle  that  he  is  the  subject  of  right 
and  wrong  motives,  principles,  and  ends  of  action — 
of  love  and  enmity,  of  truth  and  error,  and  that  God 
is  dealing  with  him  so  as  to  let  him  know  somethinn- 
of  the  bitterness  of  evil,  and  to  lead  him  through  the 
love  of  the  Divine,  the  knowledge  of  the  true,  and 
the  consciousness  of  the  rectitude  of  his  beinir,  into 
the  pure  bliss  of  fellowship  with  Himself. 

The  sum,  then,  of  what  we  have  said  on  the  princi- 


THE  DIVINE  ADMINISTRATION.  93 

pies  of  the  Divine  government  may  be  tlius  briefly 
expressed.  God  gives  bliss  to  the  heart  of  man 
through  means  of  love,  and  He  gives  this  bliss  in 
accordance  with  the  nature  of  the  object,  and  in  the 
measure  of  the  intensity  of  the  love. 

God  gives  pain  to  the  heart  of  man  through  means 
of  the  emotions  of  hatred  ;  and  He  does  so  in  accord- 
ance with  the  nature  of  the  object  of  the  enmity,  and 
in  the  measure  of  the  intensity  of  the  hatred. 

God  gives  power,  vigour,  enjoyment  to  the  mind  of 
man  in  and  through  means  of  the  belief  of  the  true  ; 
and  He  docs  so  in  accordance  with  the  nature  of  the 
truth,  and  the  streno:tli  of  the  faith  of  him  believino-  it, 

God  gives  perplexity  and  distraction  of  mind  to 
man  in  and  throuo-h  io-norancc  of  truth  and  belief  in 
error ;  and  He  does  so,  in  accordance  with  the  nature 
of  the  truth  of  which  man  is  ignorant,  and  the  char- 
acter of  the  erroneous  belief  which  he  entertains.  He 
gives  light  and  energy  in  the  measure  of  our  know- 
ledge, and  in  accordance  with  the  nature  of  its 
objects. 

God  gives  joy  and  energy  to  the  spirit  of  man,  in 
and  through  means  of  the  consciousness  of  the  rec- 
titude of  his  life  ;  and  He  gives,  and  ever  will  give, 
anguish  and  dread  and  weakness  to  the  soul  of  man, 
in  the  consciousness  of  the  wrongfulness  of  his  deeds. 

And,  finally,  these  facts  of  human  experience  throw 
light  on  the  present  condition  of  man.  They  prove 
that  man  is  neither  in  a  condition  of  perdition  nor  of 
bliss,  but  in  what  may  be  regarded  as  an  intermediate 
state  of  probation. 


(94) 


CHAPTER  YL 

COMBINATION  OR   CAUSATION. 

Causation,  as  distinguislied  from  creation,  denotes 
combination  and  change.  Creation  proper,  is  the 
bringing  into  being  wliat  previously  had  no  existence. 
Causation,  is  the  bringing  ah'eady  existing  substances 
into  new  combinations,  and  thus  leading  to  new 
results.  Creation  belongs  to,  and  is  only  in  the  power 
of,  the  Infinite.  Causation  belongs  to,  and  is  in  the 
power  of,  the  finite  as  well  as  of  the  Infinite.  No 
limit  can  be  set  to  Creation  but  the  will  of  the 
Creator.  No  limit  can  be  set  to  combination  but  the 
ingenuity,  skill,  power,  and  intention  of  the  combiner. 
Qualities  are  susceptible  of  being  brought  into  endless 
varieties  of  relations  of  harmony  and  discord.  In  the 
combinations  of  harmony  there  is  scope  for  the  display 
of  power,  wisdom,  and  goodness.  In  the  combinations 
of  discord  there  is  scope  for  the  manifestations  of 
mistaken  conception,  of  evil  disposition,  and  malig- 
nant design. 

Atoms,  lines,  colours,  sounds,  and  substances,  arc 
capable  of  being  brought  into  endless  combinations  of 
form  and  relation  in  the  mechanical  operations  of 
nature  and  art.  Words  in  the  power  of  genius  arc 
susceptible    of  indefinite    combination    in    language ; 


CO  MB  IN  A  TION  OR  CA  USA  TIOJV.  9  5 

and  dispositions,  ideas,  intellects,  and  spirits,  may  be 
combined  into  numerous  relations  in  the  activities 
and  conscious  realisations  of  life.  In  combination 
there  may  be  the  apparent,  but  not  the  real,  distinc- 
tion of  230wer.  A  power  may  be  suspended  or  held 
in  abeyance,  while  the  substance  in  which  the  power 
resides  is  placed  in  an  altered  relation,  but  the  sub- 
stance has  only  to  be  restored  to  its  former  condition 
in  order  to  show  that  the  power  is  there  just  as 
before.  This  fact  has  been  demonstrated,  and  is 
expressed  in  the  general  formula,  "the  conservation 
of  force." 

Atoms,  minds,  and  spirits,  are  necessarily  created 
with  primary  properties,  and  the  suscej^tibility  of 
combination  enters  into  the  very  nature  of  these  pro- 
perties. In  bringing  about  a  new  result,  there  is 
nothino;  more  than  the  formino^  of  new  combinations. 
Thus,  a  new  machine  is  invented,  and  what  is  there 
in  this  invention  but  the  perception,  on  the  part  of 
the  inventor,  of  how  certain  results  may  be  produced 
by  a  new  combination  of  powers.  A  law  of  nature  is 
discovered,  and  what  is  there  in  this  discovery  but 
the  perception  by  the  discoverer  of  how  certain  powers 
of  nature  may  be  brought  to  act  in  a  given  combina- 
tion with  a  determinate  result.  It  is  by  means  of 
combination  that  the  different  properties  and  sus- 
ceptibilities of  being,  in  the  course  of  their  develop- 
ment, become  known  to  finite  mind.  The  hiaher  laws 
of  being  hold  the  inferior  in  check,  and  direct  their 
action.  As  a  well-known  illustration  of  this,  we  may 
point  to  the  fact  that   the  presence   of  life,  or  the 


96  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

restraint  of  its  power  on  the  action  of  the  chemical 
laws  of  matter  in  the  body,  prevents  the  decomposition 
of  the  human  frame. 

The  laws  of  nature  are  nothing  else  than  the  invari- 
able operation  of  qualities  in  any  given  combination. 
Thus  when  certain  chemical  powers  are  brought  into 
a  particular  combination,  they  act  or  operate  in  a 
particular  manner,  and  produce  a  particular  result, 
and  however  often  the  very  same  powers  are  brought 
into  the  exact  same  combination,  they  operate  in  the 
exact  same  manner,  and  produce  the  exact  same 
results.  And  so  of  mechanical  and  vital  powers.  The 
invariable  laws  of  nature  are  nothing  else  than  the 
invariable  requirement  or  obligation  of  the  properties 
of  beino-  in  invariable  combination.  General  laws  are 
the  requirement  of  properties  in  general  combination, 
and  particular  laws  are  the  requirement  of  properties 
in  particular  combination.  Alter  the  combination 
however  little,  and  to  that  extent  you  alter  the  re- 
(juirement,  and  consequently  the  operation  of  the 
properties  in  combination,  and  thus  bring  about  a 
different  result  by  making  a  difference  in  the  com- 
bination. And  the  reason  why  one  machine  acts  so 
differently  from  another,  is  simply  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  combination  of  forces  which  constitutes  the 
one  is  different  from  that  which  constitutes  the  other. 
And  this  principle  applies  to  all  combination  of  forces, 
whether  chemical,  mechanical,  or  vital. 

If,  then,  but  one  atom  had  been  created,  and 
if  it  had  possessed  but  one  property,  it  must  have 
remained  for  ever  in  the   same  condition.      But  as 


COMBINATION  OR  CAUSATION.  97 

numerous  atoms  have  been  created  with  the  power  of 
influencing  and  being  influenced,  these  atoms,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  will  act  on  one  another  in  accord- 
ance with  the  manner  in  which  they  are  combined ; 
and  their  o^^erations  in  the  diff"erent  combinations 
into  which  they  are  brought  will  lead  to  the  develop- 
ment of  their  powers,  susce^Dtibilities,  and  possibilities  : 
and  this  holds  good  of  the  whole  realm  of  nature. 
The  letters  of  the  aljDhabet  are  capable  of  being  formed 
in  all  but  endless  combination,  but  they  cannot  of 
themselves  go  into  combination.  They  can  only  be 
placed  in  combination  by  an  agency  external  to 
themselves.  One  letter  taken  from,  or  added  to,  a 
syllable,  remains  the  same,  but  the  syllable  is  altered. 
One  syllable  taken  from,  or  added  to,  a  word,  remains 
the  same,  but  the  word  is  altered.  One  word  taken 
from,  or  added  to,  a  paragraph,  remains  the  same,  but 
the  paragraph  is  altered.  One  chapter  taken  from,  or 
added  to,  a  volume,  remains  the  same,  but  the  volume 
is  altered.  And  so  of  all  combination  of  any  sort 
whatsoever.  And  things  added  to,  or  taken  from,  a 
combination,  will  afi'ect  the  character  and  result  of 
that  combination,  while,  in  themselves,  the  constitu- 
ent elements  remain  the  same.  This  is  strikingly  seen 
in  the  case  of  numerals  or  fio;ures.  If  one  or  two 
figures  be  added  to,  or  taken  from,  a  line  of  figures,  it 
greatly  increases  or  diminishes  the  amount  indicated. 
It  is  thus  that  by  changing  the  number  and  relation 
of  elements,  properties,  and  powers  in  combination, 
we  bring  about  widely  difi'erent  results. 

The  combination  of  one  property  with  another  may 

G 


98  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

aid,  restrain,  or  neutralise  the  operation  of  another 
property,  or  bring  into  being  a  ne^Y  property  alto- 
gether ;  but  the  combination  cannot  destroy  or  anni- 
hilate the  original  property,  or  act  upon  it  contrary 
to  its  susceptibility  of  being  acted  upon.  The  aid, 
restraint,  or  neutralisation  takes  place  not  through 
means  of  violence  done  to  the  powers  or  suscepti- 
bilities of  the  bodies  combined,  but  in  perfect  accord- 
ance with  their  nature  or  capacity  for  being  so 
influenced.  And  as  in  the  combination  of  matter, 
so  in  the  combination  of  mind  and  spirit  in  indi- 
vidual and  social  life.  Individuals,  with  equals,  or 
with  those  of  a  higher  order  of  life,  may  be  so  com- 
bined together  as  by  their  co-operation  to  secure  a 
given  result ;  but  in  this  combination  they  influence 
one  another  in  such  a  manner,  that  their  free  agency 
is  not  interfered  Avith  or  in  any  way  injured,  but 
preserved  intact.  Particular  results  are  secured 
through  means  of  the  presence  or  absence  of  jDarti- 
cular  agencies.  Matter  may  be  brought  into  com- 
bination, and  thus  made  to  02:>erate ;  but  not  sp>irit 
in  its  normal  condition  ;  it  mny  be  led  into  com- 
■  bination,  but  cannot  in  the  combination  be  compelled 
to  act,  or  to  act  in  any  one  particular  way.  It  is 
essentially  free  and  endowed  with  power  over  its  own 
action.  It  can  enter  into  combination  with  hifrher, 
equal,  or  inferior  powers,  and  by  its  presence  afiect 
the  result ;  but  in  its  influencing  the  operation  of  the 
combined  forces  by  its  aid  or  hindrance,  it  acts  in  the 
unfettered  freedom  of  its  nature. 

Matter    is    cap>able    of   indefinite   combination   in 


COMBINATION  OR  CAUSATION  99 

chemical,  meclianical,  or  vital  relations;  it  develops 
its  jDOwers  and  capabilities,  but  into  all  its  combina- 
tions it  mnst  be  brought — it  cannot  of  itself  form 
any  new  combination  ;  whereas  spirit  can  and  often 
does  so.  Matter  may  be  combined  so  as  to  form  a 
globe  or  a  planetary  system  with  its  appropriate 
mechanism.  Atoms  may  be  combiued  with  vitality  so 
as  to  produce  a  vegetable  kingdom,  or  they  may  be  so 
combiued  with  vitality  as  to  produce  an  animal  king- 
dom ;  and  matter,  mind,  and  spirit  may  be  so  combined 
as  to  produce  a  world  ;  but  in  all  this  there  is  nothing- 
more  than  combination,  a  display  of  skill  in  combining 
the  primary  properties  of  created  substances,  a  weav- 
ing of  the  higher  threads  of  spirit  and  mind  into  the 
woof  of  matter.  The  whole  of  the  rich  variety  which 
we  see  in  creation  is  simply  due  to  the  skill  shown 
in  combining  the  different  elementary  substances  of 
beinjT.  One  creature  differs  from  another  in  a  differ- 
ence  of  constitution,  and,  consequently,  of  life ;  and 
this  difference  of  constitution  and  life  is  merely  a 
difference  of  combination  in  its  formation  and  life. 

The  simpler  forms  of  vitality,  as  in  vegetable  and 
in  animal  existence,  possess  the  power  of  construction 
or  of  non-discretionary  combination.  Their  germs 
appropriate  the  nourishment  on  which  they  feed, 
and,  by  so  doing,  construct  a  vegetable  or  an  animal, 
as  they  develop  the  mechanism  or  constitution  of 
the  seed  or  embryo  in  w^hich  they  inhere.  But  a 
higher  power  of  combination  belongs  to  rational  or 
spiritual  agency ;  personality  is  endowed  with  the 
power  of  discretionary  combination.      An  individual 


100  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

can  select  tlie  elements  lie  combines  with  tlie  percep- 
tion of  their  suitability  or  imsuitability  for  this  or 
that  combination.     One  individual  combines  certain 
sounds  or  notes  in  music,  and  is  the  author  of  an  air, 
or  tune ;    another  individual   combines   colours  in   a 
particular  manner,  and  becomes  an  artist,  the  author 
of  a  celebrated  painting  or  admired  design ;  another 
combines  straight  lines  and  curves,  and  sketches  the 
plan  of  an  edifice,  and  is  thus  an  architect ;  another 
combines  certain  ideas,  and  becomes  the  author  of  a 
book   in   literature,    science,    or  philosophy.      These 
individuals  claim  to  be  the  authors  of  their  several 
productions,  and  are  fully  entitled  to  the  merit  of 
the  claim  ;  and  so  an  individual,  in  the  development 
of  his  personality,  combines  particular  motives  and 
volitions   with    certain   ideas   and   dispositions,    and 
thus  he  becomes  the  author  of  his  actions,  the  framer 
of  his  character. 

Airents  act  in  the  order  of  co-ordination  and  of 
subordination  as  soldiers  in  an  army,  and  in  this 
manner  order  is  preserved  in  the  movements  of  the 
army  and  in  the  achievements  of  war.  There  is  a 
subordination  of  ranks  as  well  as  a  co-ordination  of 
airents.  And,  ascendino^  from  the  lowest  to  the 
hiefhest  a2:ent  throu2;h  the  different  orders  of  subor- 
dination,  we  at  length  arrive  at  a  Supreme  Agent 
who  acts  of  Himself,  and  over  whom  there  can  be  no 
superior.  This  Suj^reme  Agent  being  over  all,  can 
form  any  combination  of  agents,  powers,  substances. 
He  pleases,  and  thus  secure  any  result  He  chooses ; 
He  can  be  under  no  law  but  His  own  will  as  moved 


CO  MB  IN  A  TION  OR  CA  USA  TION.  i  o  i 

by  His  own  nature.  If  His  power  and  resources  are 
infinite,  He  can  create  and  combine,  re-create  and 
re-combine  as  He  pleases.  And  in  tliis  He  can 
advance  from  the  simj^lest  to  the  most  intricate  and 
complex  of  combinations,  and  thus  produce  the 
simplest  or  most  complicate  results,  none  jDossessed 
of  right  or  daring  to  say,  What  dost  Thou. 

What,  then,  is  the  bearing  of  these  facts  on  the 
doctrine  of  general  and  immutable  law  ?  To  answer 
this  question  we  must  inquire,  What  is  general 
and  immutable  law  ?  And  for  the  answer  we  must 
again  inquire,  What  is  law  ?  Law,  as  we  have  already 
defined  it,  is  requirement  or  obligation.  And  this 
obligation  arises  out  of  the  nature  of  the  subject  of 
law.  Thus  an  atom  of  matter  possesses  the  power  of 
acting,  and  the  susceptibility  of  being  acted  on  by 
another  particle.  If  the  atoms  remain  alone,  these 
properties  remain  latent,  but  if  they  be  brought  near 
to  one  another,  then  the  one  atom  will  attract  or 
repel  the  other;  and  will  do  so  in  accordance  with 
their  inherent  power  and  susceptibility.  When  the 
loadstone  is  remote  from  the  steel  its  powers  are 
latent,  but  whenever  it  is  brought  into  contiguity 
with  steel,  then  arises  a  requirement  or  obligation  of 
its  powers  to  attract  the  steel,  and  this  requirement  or 
obligation  arises  out  of  the  nature  and  relation  of  the 
loadstone  to  the  steel  And  so  of  more  complex  nature 
and  relations. 

We  speak  of  chemical,  mechanical,  vital,  intellectual, 
and  spiritual  law,  also  of  human  and  divine  law,  and 
in  every  case  law  denotes  requirement  or  obligation, 


102  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

arising  out  of  tlic  nature,  the  constitution,  and  tlie 
relation  of  the  subject  or  subjects  of  the  particular 
law.  We  cannot  conceive  of  an  absolute  simplicity  of 
substance,  i.e.,  in  the  actual  existence  of  substance  or 
essence  without  any  quality.  Do  what  we  may,  we 
cannot  believe  in  matter  without  form,  or  in  the  exist- 
ence of  spirit  without  activity.  We  cannot  conceive 
of  the  existence  of  one  particle  of  matter  devoid 
of  both  substance  and  force.  If  matter  had  no  power 
of  attraction  and  repulsion,  its  particles  would  not 
unite  with  nor  act  on  one  another,  but  would  remain 
without  motion  or  adliesion  as  they  were  brought  to- 
gether. But  if  matter  be  possessed  of  these  properties, 
not  to  speak  of  others,  if  it  be  essential  to  matter 
even  in  its  simplest  condition  that  its  particles  attract 
and  repel  each  other,  then  when  they  are  brought 
together  they  must  act  on  one  another,  and  they 
must  do  so  in  accordance  with  the  relations  under 
which  they  meet.  And  thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
law  of  action  arises  out  of  the  nature  of  the  combina- 
tion, and  the  relation  of  the  subject  of  law.  By 
combination  of  particles,  of  properties,  of  natures,  we 
bring  law  in  its  simple  or  complex  forms  into  opera- 
tion. Thus,  when  we  combine  colour  of  one  shade, 
the  particles  will  unite  and  produce  a  more  consistent 
body  of  colour,  or  an  intenser  hue  ;  and  if  we  combine 
particles  of  different  shades  of  colour,  they  will  unite 
and  produce  a  shade  of  colour  exactly  in  accordance 
with  their  proportion,  i.e.,  in  accordance  with  their 
nature  and  relation  to  one  another.  If  substances  of 
a  cohesive  nature  be  brought  together,  they  will  unite, 


COMBINATION  OR  CAUSATION.  103 

and  the  result  of  their  union  will  be  in  accordance 
with  their  nature  and  relation  in  combination.  And 
if  substances  of  repulsive  properties  be  brought  to- 
gether, the  result  of  the  combination  will  be  different, 
but  at  the  same  time  in  accordance  with  the  nature 
and  relation  of  the  properties  and  substances  in  com- 
bination. 

If  a  seed  still  vital  be  placed  in  nutritious  soil,  and 
moistened  by  the  dew  or  rain  of  heaven,  and  warmed 
with  the  heat  of  the  sun,  in  other  words,  if  its 
vitality  be  combined  with  other  productive  powers,  it 
wdll  grow  and  produce  a  plant  in  accordance  with  its 
kind.  If  a  seed  of  another  species  or  genus  of  plants 
be  placed  in  like  circumstances,  it  will  grow  into  a 
plant  of  a  different  kind ;  and  if  the  same  description 
of  seed  be  placed  in  different  descriptions  of  soils, 
in  different  climates,  while  producing  the  same  kind 
of  plants  they  will  do  so  in  different  forms  of  vigour 
and  size.  And  why  ?  simply  because  of  different 
temperatures  of  climate,  and  different  descriptions  of 
soil,  in  other  words,  a  different  combination  of  circum- 
stances. If  eggs  of  viirious  S]3ecies  be  placed  under 
proper  heat,  they  will  be  hatched  each  after  its  own 
kind.  If  animals  of  the  same  species  be  brought  to- 
gether to  produce,  they  will  bring  forth  after  their 
own  kind  ;  if  a  male  and  a  female  of  different  species 
propagate,  they  will  bring  forth  an  offspring  different 
from  either  species  to  which  they  belong.  And  it 
will  be  seen  in  all  this  that  the  result  is  after  the 
nature  of  the  combination.  In  like  manner  if  a 
life  be  lived,  whether   that   life  be   animal  merely, 


104  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

or  rational  and  spiritual,  it  must  in  all  cases  be 
manifested  aecordino^  to  its  nature  and  circum- 
stances. 

The  finite  cannot  produce  or  create  substance,  or 
impart  to  substance  primary  qualities  or  original 
powers ;  but  finite  agency  can  combine  cliemical, 
mechanical,  and  vital  substances,  and  thus  bring  forth 
certain  results ;  and  who  can  set  limits  to  the  skill 
or  originality  of  man  in  forming  combinations.  Now, 
if  this  be  so,  who  will,  a  fortiori,  presume  to  assign 
limits  to  the  Creator's  skill  and  power  to  create  and 
combine,  to  form  and  produce,  or  who  will  show  that 
God  (not  to  speak  of  creating)  cannot,  in  combining, 
so  contrive  as  to  produce  any  result  He  chooses, 
and  produce  that  result  in  entire  accordance  with 
the  nature,  constitution,  and  relations  of  the  sub- 
stances He  brings  into  combination.  Does  He  not 
ever  act  in  accordance  with  the  beini^  or  law  of 
operation,  either  particular  or  general,  of  the  sub- 
stances, or  agents  He  emj^loys  ?  God  surely  is  not 
fettered  in  His  doings  by  any  operation  of  law.  Is 
it  not  more  philosophic  to  regard  Him  as  guiding 
law,  and  throu^-h  means  of  law  itself  workino;  out 
His  own  gracious  ends,  than  to  look  upon  Him  as 
fettered  in  His  doings  by  any  law  of  nature  ? 

There  can  be  no  other  notion  of  general,  immutable 
law  than  the  idea  that  the  same  agencies,  in  the  same 
combination,  Avill  ever  produce  the  same  results  ;  and 
if  brought  into  other  combinations,  will  produce  other 
results.  This  is  the  true  conception  of  invariable 
law ;  and  in  passing  we  may  say,  that  it  can  in  no 


CO  MB  IN  A  TION  OR  CA  USA  TION.  105 

way  militate  against  the  true  doctrine  of  miracles ; 
for  a  miracle  is  nothing  but  a  new  combination  of 
existing  elements,  or  the  creation  of  a  new  element, 
and  causing  it  to  enter  in  and  operate  along  with 
already  existing  elements  in  a  new  combination.  And 
God  can  at  any  time  do  this  as  the  Supreme  Agent. 
He  can  at  any  moment  form  any  combination  of 
existing  elements,  create  a  new  element,  and  combine 
it  with  already  existing  elements,  or  reveal  Himself 
in  a  new  form  of  manifestation  to  whomsoever  He 
will.  No  theist  can  refuse  to  acknowledge  the  power 
of  God  in  any  of  these  forms ;  and,  as  it  appears  to 
us,  no  correct  apprehension  of  the  doctrine  of  theism 
can  stand  in  the  way  of  the  belief  in  miracles. 


(  io6) 


CHAPTER  Vir. 

THE   POWER    OF  CHOICE. 

God  lias  placed  man  amid  endless  motives  to  action, 
and  lias  given  to  liim  the  power  of  clioice  in  reference 
to  objects  of  affection,  of  tliouglit,  of  manner,  and  of 
life,  and  holds  him  responsible  for  the  choice  he  makes 
in  reference  to  these.  God  has  given  to  man  the 
option  of  whether  he  will  live  in  the  love  of  the 
Divine,  or  in  the  love  of  the  selfish  ;  whether  he  will 
think  in  the  light  of  the  true,  or  in  the  obscurity  of 
the  false ;  whether  he  will  act  in  the  consciousness  of 
the  rectitude  of  his  doings,  or  in  the  conviction  of  the 
wrongfulness  of  his  deeds.  That  man  possesses  the 
power  of  clioice  in  regard  to  the  manner  of  his  life, 
i.e.,  in  reference  to  his  dispositions  and  motives,  an 
appeal  to  the  consciousness  of  mankind  is  at  any 
moment  sufficient  to  prove. 

Let  us  therefore  inquire  what  consciousness  has  to 
say  in  regard  to  the  matter.  When,  for  example,  we 
ask  an  individual  to  make  a  choice  in  reference  to  any 
matter,  we  do  so  in  the  full  conviction  that  he  has 
the  power  to  make  that  choice,  and  that  he-  is  not 
attracted  to  the  object  we  present,  nor  repelled  from 
it,  as  is  the  north  pole  of  one  magnet  attracted  to  the 


THE  POWER  OF  CHOICE.  107 

soutli  pole  of  another  magnet,  and  repelled  from  the 
similar  pole.  On  the  contrary,  we  ask  him  to  make 
the  choice  in  the  conviction  that,  back  and  behind 
all  the  elements  which  operate  on  the  man  in  influ- 
encing him  to  the  choice  of  the  particular  object,  the 
power  of  finally  determining  lies  with  himself.  Con- 
sciousness ever  persistently  declares  that  choice  is  a 
personal  act,  and  this  view  of  the  case  is  that  by 
which  all  mankind  regulates  the  affairs  of  daily  life. 

On  the  other  hand,  what  is  the  consciousness  of  the 
chooser  in  making  the  choice  ?  Not,  surely,  that  he 
is  blindly  hurried  into  the  choice,  but  that  he  can 
choose  at  once,  or  delay  with  a  view  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  choice.  He  can  deliberate  on  the  con- 
sequences of  choosing  this  or  that  object,  or  of 
not  choosing  at  all,  and  then  choose  or  not  choose. 
He  is  conscious  of  a  power  by  which  he  can  place 
different  objects  before  his  mind,  examine  them 
minutely,  weigh  their  different  qualities,  and  weigh 
what  will  be  the  result  of  choosing  or  not  choosing, 
or  of  preferring  one  object  to  another.  He  is  at  times 
conscious  of  a  sense  of  duty  drawing  him  one  way, 
and  a  desire  of  gratification  inclining  him  in  another ; 
he  is  also  conscious  that  sometimes  he  chooses  on  the 
side  of  conviction  of  duty,  and  that  at  other  times  he 
chooses  on  the  side  of  gratification,  and  in  the  face  of 
the  doubt  of  its  being  right ;  in  fact,  in  spite  of  a 
strong  feeling  that  it  is  wrong  for  him  to  choose  as  he 
does.  He  is  conscious  in  all  the  choices  he  makes, 
that,  back  and  behind  all  the  influences  acting  on  him, 
he  is  possessed  of  a  self-determinating  power  of  will, 


io8  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

aud  tliat  tlie  determination  or  choice  in  tlie  matter  is 
really  his  own. 

And  ^Yhat  is  a  man's  reflection  on  the  choice  he  has 
made  ?  If  he  made  the  choice  in  the  conviction  that 
it  \vas  right  in  him  to  make  it,  and  if  the  result  of  the 
choice  proves  advantageous,  he  realises  a  pure  satis- 
faction in  the  consciousness  that  he  made  that  choice 
and  not  another ;  he  feels  that  the  satisfaction  of 
having  made  the  choice  is  really  and  truly  his  own, 
that  he  is  fully  entitled  to  entertain  the  satisfaction 
that  he  would  not  only  do  himself  an  injustice,  hut 
would  act  inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  eternal 
right  were  he  to  discard  the  satisfaction.  If,  however, 
he  is  conscious  of  liavine:  made  the  choice  from  selfish 
motives,  from  a  desire  for  gratification  in  opposition 
to  his  conviction  of  duty,  then,  however  advantageous 
its  results  may  be,  his  satisfaction  in  the  enjoyment 
of  these  results  is  neither  pure  nor  unalloyed ;  a  dis- 
quietude interrupts  the  satisfaction,  and  poisons  the 
pleasure  with  which  they  are  enjoyed.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  results  of  the  choice  should  prove 
disadvantageous,  still,  if  the  chooser  is  conscious  that 
.when  he  made  the  choice  he  acted  from  a  sense  of 
duty,  then  will  that  conviction  sustain  him  under  the 
pressure  of  its  disadvantageous  results.  He  will  feel 
stronc^  in  the  conviction  that  when  he  made  the 
choice  he  acted  from  a  sense  that  it  was  rioht  and 
proper  in  him  to  do  so.  But  if  he  is  conscious  of 
having  made  the  choice  from  wrong  motives,  and  the 
results  of  the  choice  prove  baneful,  then  will  he  not 
only  realise  these  results  to  be  bitter  in  themselves, 


THE  POWER  OF  CHOICE.  109 

"but  tlie  Litterness  will  be  greatly  intensified  by  tlie 
consciousness  that  when  he  made  the  choice,  he  knew 
that  it  was  wrong  in  him  to  make  it.  And  this  feel- 
ino-  of  self-condemnation  in  the  consciousness  of  having 
made  the  choice  from  wrong  motives  will  repel  every 
attempt  to  persuade  him  that  the  choice  was  not 
really  his,  that  he  could  not  help  making  the  choice, 
that  behind  his  own  will  there  was  an  influence  which 
necessitated  the  choice,  and  that  while  he  was  under 
that  influence  he  could  not  help  making  it.  He  will 
not  allow  himself  to  take  shelter  under  such  a  notion  ; 
conscience  in  such  an  hour  will  scorn  such  subterfuge, 
and  repel  with  indignation  every  such  attempt  to 
silence  her  accusing  voice.  The  man  smarting  under 
her  lash  knows  full  well  that  the  choice,  in  the  strict 
and  proper  sense,  is  his  choice.  Memory  may  for  a 
time  allow  the  consciousness  of  the  motive  which  led 
to  the  choice  to  fall  into  oblivion,  but  the  moment 
the  consciousness  of  the  motive  becomes  vivid,  the 
personal  consciousness  will  brook  no  denial  of  the 
choice  being  really  and  truly  the  choice  of  the  indi- 
vidual himself. 

And  what  is  the  judgment  of  mankind  in  regard  to 
the  personality  of  choice  ?  In  awarding  praise  to  an 
individual  who,  in  pursuit  of  an  illustrious  career,  has 
performed  noble  deeds,  do  men  admire  and  laud  the 
circumstances  into  which  he  has  fallen,  or  the  man's 
display  of  skill  and  perseverance  in  these  circum- 
stances ?  Do  they  look  upon  him  as  the  mere  fortu- 
nate instrument  of  propitious  influences,  or  do  they 
feel  persuaded  that  he  is  not  only  an  actor  in,  but  the 


no  TJIE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

author  of  Lis  own  successful  career,  that  behind  all 
the  propitious  circumstances  and  influences,  aiding 
and  abetting  in  the  choice,  he  is  the  chooser  of  the 
end,  the  selector  of  the  means,  and  the  active  agent  in 
guiding  these  to  their  appropriate  results.  What  they 
admire  is  the  man  himself  in  his  deeds,  and  what 
they  feel  is  that  lie  is  entitled  to  the  praise  they 
award  to  him.  Again,  in  blaming  an  individual  for 
his  wrong-doing,  men  do  not  feel  persuaded  that  after 
all  he  could  not  help  doing  what  they  blame  him  for 
doing,  they  do  not  believe  that  he  was  only  the  pas- 
sive instrument  of  influences  he  could  neither  avoid 
nor  control,  nor  do  they  in  blaming  such  an  one  ex- 
perience any  misgiving  about  his  deserving  their 
blame. 

And  let  an  individual,  while  censuring  others,  read 
carefully  his  own  inner  conceptions  and  feelings,  and 
he  wall  soon  perceive,  whether  he  can,  at  the  bar  of 
his  conscience,  vindicate  his  own  wrong-doing  on  the 
plea  that  he  could  not  help  himself,  but  had  to  yield 
to  the  influences  w^hicli  were  pressing  on  him  at  the 
moment ;  he  will  at  once  perceive  that  such  an 
attempt  is  a  delusion  which  will  not  bear  the  light  of 
his  own  judgment.  He  will  perceive  that  the  judg- 
ment that  he  passes  upon  others  is  the  judgment  he 
must  pass  upon  himself,  for,  when  he  reflects  carefully 
on  what  passes  within  himself,  he  will  perceive  that 
the  judgment  which  he  passes  on  the  conduct  of 
others  is  the  dictate  of  his  unbiassed  reason — a  dictate 
which  he  must  apply  to  his  own  case. 

And  what  is  the  judgment  of  God  as  recorded  in 


THE  POWER  OF  CHOICE.  iii 

human  experience  regarding  man's  power  of  clioice  ? 
Do  we  not  see  that  God  has  attached  a  sense  of  joy- 
in  the  human  heart  to  the  consciousness  of  doing  what 
is  felt  to  Le  right,  and  a  feeling  of  j^ain  to  the 
consciousness  of  doing  what  is  felt  to  be  wrong  ? 
Now,  why  is  this,  unless  it  be  that  man  has  a  per- 
sonal power  in  the  matter  of  choice  ?  It  is  a  reward 
bestowed  upon  the  right  choice,  and  a  punishment 
directed  against  the  Avrong  choice.  If  individuals  are 
the  mere  passive  instruments  of  influences  over 
which  they  have  no  control,  why  has  God  placed  in 
them  that  fearful  and  indestructible  voice  of  self- 
condemnation  ?  Or  why  has  He  made  them  the 
subjects  of  those  repeated  and  unavailing  efforts  of 
self- vindication    in    the    heart    of    the    transcfressor  ? 

O 

The  voice  of  self-condemnation  is  not  the  voice 
of  warning,  neither  is  it  the  voice  of  timorous 
restraint,  but  the  voice  which  speaks  to  man 
after  his  deed  of  transgression  i§  done,  is  the 
most  dreadful  of  all  voices  in  man.  Its  pangs 
are  the  most  prolonged  and  lacerating  of  which 
man  is  the  subject,  and  they  are  indestructible  by 
mere  human  effort.  To  us  it  seems  incredible  that 
self-condemnation,  remorse,  and  despair  can  fall  to 
the  lot  of  man,  w^ere  it  not  that  he  is  a  free  agent.  If 
man  has  not  the  power  of  choice  in  reference  to 
objects,  his  constitution  is  a  lie.  Divine  government 
is  a  fiction.  Divine  goodness  a  groundless  fancy, 
and  the  moral  nature  of  man  a  contradiction  and 
absurdity. 

Let  us  now  proceed  to  inquire  as  to  Avhether  or  not 


112  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

a  man  has  the  jDower  of  clioice  in  regard  to  ideas, 
opinions,  and  beliefs.  AVhen  an  individual  endeavours 
to  alter  tlie  ideas,  opinions,  and  beliefs  of  another, 
what  is  the  state  of  mind  with  which  he  makes  the 
attempt  ?  As  is  well  known,  he  does  not  ajDproach 
the  person  on  whom  he  would  operate,  as  the  com- 
positor sets  about  the  correction  of  a  proof-sheet,  with 
the  feeling  that  the  man  is  a  mere  passive  instrument 
or  organ  of  the  truth  he  brings  to  bear  ujDon  his 
mind ;  he  does  not  address  him  with  the  conviction 
in  his  own  mind  that  the  man  must  conform  to 
the  truth  which  is  set  before  him,  and  that  he  must 
do  so  in  the  measure  in  which  he  lets  the  light  of  it 
fall  upon  his  understanding.  On  the  contrary,  he 
addresses  him  with  the  conviction  in  his  own  mind 
that,  back  of  the  evidence  he  brings  to  bear  upon  him, 
his  auditor  possesses  a  power  in  himself  through  means 
of  which  he  deals  with  the  truth  and  the  evidence 
placed  before  him.  Every  orator  addressing  an 
assembly  does  so  with  the  feeling  that  his  hearers 
can  give  or  withhold  their  attention  from  what  is 
addressed  to  them  ;  that  they  can  give  their  attention 
divided  or  undivided,  longer  or  shorter,  and  that 
they  can  weigh  the  evidence  advanced  partially 
or  impartially,  distractedly  or  calmty,  and  that  they 
can  yield  themselves  up  to  or  resist  the  risings  of 
conviction.  It  is  well  known  that  an  individual  can 
institute  an  inquiry  into  a  subject  when  urged  upon 
him  by  another,  or  when  suggested  by  his  own 
reflection,  and  that  he  can  prosecute  this  inquiry  or 
desist  from,  as  his  likings  or  dislikings  urge  or  restrain 


THE  POWER  OF  CHOICE.  113 

liim.  Now,  why  this  fact  of  human  experience,  if  a 
man  has  not  a  j)ower  over  his  beliefs  ?  And  because  it 
is  so,  the  public  instructor  not  only  endeavours  to 
enlighten  the  minds  of  his  hearers,  but  also  to  persuade 
their  hearts.  When  we  would  alter  the  opinions  of 
others,  we  seek  not  merely  to  arrest  their  attention 
and  to  enlighten  their  understandings,  but  we  also 
do  what  we  can  to  move  their  wills ;  and  the  very 
effort  we  make  to  do  so  clearly  shows  that  there  is  an 
inherent  conviction  in  man — that  men  possess  a  per- 
sonal power  over  their  ideas,  opinions,  and  beliefs, 
and  that  they  stand  to  these  in  a  very  different 
relation  from  that  in  which  they  stand  to  the  colour 
of  their  skin  and  the  height  of  their  stature. 

Human  consciousness,  the  judgment  of  mankind, 
and  God,  in  all  that  we  know  of  Him,  hold  man 
responsible  for  his  belief  Every  man  has  within 
him  an  indestructible  conviction  of  possessing  a 
j)ower  over  his  opinions,  and  a  sense  of  responsibility 
in  reference  to  his  beliefs.  All  men  avow  a  readiness 
to  change  their  opinions  whenever  they  are  furnished 
with  a  sufficient  reason  for  so  doing,  and  this  avowal 
clearly  implies  the  conviction  on  their  part  of  a  power 
in  them  to  do  so.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  all  men  are 
very  sensitive  about  the  light  in  which  their  opinions 
are  regarded  by  others.  They  are  ever  ready  to  show 
dissatisfaction  when  charged  with  holding  unworthy 
and  erroneous  opinions,  and  are  prone  to  resent  all 
such  charges.  And  why  this  displeasure  and  resent- 
ment if  men  are  not  conscious  of  possessing  a  j^ower 
over   their   beliefs  ?      An    individual   may   wish   to 

H 


114  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

possess  a  different  size  of  body  or  colour  of  skin,  but 
he  is  not  conscious  of  possessing  a  power  over  tliem 
as  lie  knows  lie  possesses  over  his  opinions  and  beliefs. 
If  an  individual's  colour  or  size  subjects  him  to  dis- 
advantage, he  feels  the  defect ;  but  instead  of  expect- 
ing blame  on  account  of  the  defect,  he  is  rather  an 
object  of  sympathy.  But  man  does  take  shame  to 
himself  when  charged  with  unworthy  beliefs. 

How,  then,  are  we  to  account  for  man's  belief  in  the 
possession  of  a  power  to  alter  his  opinions  when  he 
sees  fit,  or  for  his  sense  of  shame  when  conscious  of 
clinging  to  unworthy  sentiments.  That  such  are 
facts  of  human  experience  is  beyond  disj)ute,  and 
they  can  be  accounted  for  only  on  the  principle  that 
man  is  conscious  of  possessing  a  power  over  his 
beliefs.  If  man  be  unable  to  alter  his  opinion  wdien 
the  erroneous  character  of  such  is  laid  before  him, 
then  there  is  no  accounting  for  the  consciousness  in 
him  that  he  is  able  to  do  so.  On  this  suj)position 
man's  consciousness  deceives  him ;  and  if  conscious- 
ness deceives  man,  he  is  the  dupe  of  lies,  and  can 
have  no  means  of  arrivincj  at  a  knowlede^e  of  truth. 
The  universal  sentiment  of  mankind  holds  man 
responsible  for  his  ideas,  opinions,  and  beliefs.  Men 
do  not  only  distinguish  between  opinions — disap- 
proving of  some  and  approving  of  others — and  blame 
individuals  for  adhering  to  one  class,  and  praise  them 
for  holding  by  another ;  but  they  especially  blame 
men  for  clinging  to  opinions  in  the  face  of  evidence 
sufficient  to  convince  them  of  the  erroneous  character 
of  the  oj)inions   they  cling  to.     We  all  know  what 


THE  POWER  OF  CHOICE.  115 

prejudice  is,  but  prejudice  is  only  possible  on  the 
ground  that  men  are  possessed  of  a  power  over  their 
opinions.  If  a  man  has  no  power  over  his  opinions 
he  cannot  prejudice  a  case  or  hold  to  a  sentiment  in 
the  face  of  its  refutation.  The  fact  that  men  do 
blame  one  another  for  prejudice  and  clinging  to 
refuted  errors,  is  an  irrefragable  proof  of  the  fact 
that  man  is  believed  to  possess  a  power  over  his 
opinions. 

This  disapproval  of  individuals  for  clinging  to 
erroneous  conceptions  is  grounded  in  the  universal 
consciousness  of  mankind.  When  individuals  are 
charged  by  others  with  entertaining  false  or 
unworthy  opinions,  they  do  not  lament  that  they  are 
altogether  unable  to  alter  them ;  on  the  contrary, 
they  endeavour  to  show  that  their  opinions  are  true 
and  honourable,  and  that  it  is  because  they  are  such 
that  they  abide  by  them.  If  men  are  not  pos- 
sessed of  a  consciousness  of  power  to  alter  their 
opinions,  when  supplied  with  sufficient  evidence  of 
their  falsehood,  they  would  not  adopt  this  mode  of 
defence.  If  they  were  not  possessed  of  power  to 
yield  to  evidence,  mankind  would  blame  the  insuf- 
ficiency of  the  evidence,  instead  of  blaming  the  man 
for  his  unworthiness.  This  would  be  the  ro,tional 
course  to  pursue,  but  men  do  not  blame  the  evidence 
for  not  convincing,  they  blame  the  individual  for  not 
being  convinced. 

God  holds  men  responsible  for  their  ideas,  opinions, 
and  beliefs.  He  treats  with  man  throudi  the  medium 
of,  and  in   accordance  with,  his  opinions,  ideas,  and 


ii6  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

beliefs.  He  conditions  discernment,  energy,  and 
enjoyment,  also  obscurity,  vacillation,  and  suffering, 
on  a  man's  ideas,  opinions,  and  beliefs.  Through  the 
medium  of  individual  belief  God  frowns  or  smiles  on 
man,  confers  His  favours  or  withholds  His  gifts  ;  this 
mode  of  dealing  with  men  on  the  part  of  God  is  an 
establishe4  fact  in  the  experience  of  human  life, 
and  it  is  a  law  written  in  every  man's  constitution. 
To  certain  ideas,  opinions,  and  beliefs,  God  attaches 
lio-ht,  energy,  success,  satisfaction,  and  enjoyment;  to 
their  opposite  He  has  joined  darkness,  weakness, 
failure,  dissatisfaction,  and  pain.  If  man  possesses  no 
power  of  choice  in  the  matter  of  his  ideas,  opinions, 
beliefs,  is  it  conceivable  that  God  would  inseparably 
connect  benefit  with  the  one,  and  harm  with  the  other 
class  ?  Neither  is  it  conceivable  that  God  would  attach 
a  sense  of  shame  and  unworthiness  to  the  one,  and 
satisfaction  and  joy  to  the  other  ;  or  that  He  would 
refuse  to  man  deliverance  from  the  shame,  or  deny 
him  satisfaction,  save  b}^  means  of  a  change  in  his 
ideas,  opinions,  beliefs.  Eefuse  therefore  to  concede 
to  man  the  power  of  choice,  and  all  God's  dealings 
with  him  become  an  inexplicable  enigma.  Neither 
God  nor  man  can  be  understood.  On  the  opposite  view 
all  is  consistent  and  clear.  The  very  sense  of  shame 
we  realise  in  holding  to  certain  opinions,  and  the 
very  satisfaction  we  feel  in  clinging  to  others,  is  a 
proof  in  man  that  God  holds  him  responsible  for  his 
belief. 

Let  us  now  inquire  if  man  has  the  power  of  choice 
in  regard  to  dispositions,  motives,  and  principles  of 


THE  POWER  OF  CHOICE.  117 

action.  Every  man  is  conscious  of  clierisliiug  cer- 
tain dispositions,  of  preferring  certain  motives,  and  of 
acting  on  certain  principles ;  lie  is  likewise  conscious 
of  a  satisfaction  in  clierisliing  what  lie  knows  to  be 
right  dispositions  in  preferring  what  he  knows  to 
be  right  motives,  and  in  acting  on  what  he  believes 
to  be  right  principles  ;  he  is  also  conscious  of  a  sense 
of  degradation,  in  cherishing  what  he  knows  to  be 
wrong  dispositions,  in  preferring  what  he  knows  to  be 
wrong  motives,  and  in  acting  on  wdiat  he  Ijelieves  to 
be  wrong  principles.  These  facts  of  man's  daily  life 
are  attested  by  universal  experience,  and  are  secured 
in  their  operations  by  the  established  law  of  his  con- 
stitution. And  man  is  peculiarly  jealous  of  the  light 
in  which  his  fellow-men  view  his  dispositions,  motives, 
and  principles,  and  he  is  ever  ready  to  vindicate 
these.  Now,  on  what  ground  can  a  man  feel  so 
satisfied  with  himself  in  cherishing  one  set  of  dis- 
positions, in  preferring  one  kind  of  motives,  and  in 
acting  on  one  class  of  principles,  but  on  the  ground 
of  his  conscious  possession  of  a  personal  powder  over 
them  ?  And  why  should  he  be  so  peculiarly  jealous  of 
the  light  in  which  his  dispositions,  motives,  and 
principles  are  viewed  by  others,  if  not  on  the  ground 
of  the  abiding  connection,  that  he  is  held  responsible 
for  them  both  in  the  sioht  of  God  and  man  ? 

This  judgment  of  the  individual  consciousness  of 
mankind  is  indorsed  and  manifested  in  the  readiness 
with  which  men  blame  individuals  for  cherishinof 
Avrong  dispositions,  preferring  wrong  motives,  and 
acting  on  wrong  princix)lcs ;  and  also  in  the  readiness 


it8  the  science  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

with  which  men  praise  others  for  cherishing  right 
dispositions,  preferring  right  motives,  and  acting  on 
right  principles.  Thus  men  in  praising  or  blaming 
others  recomise  a  distinction  between  what  is  rig-ht 
and  beneficial,  and  what  is  wrong  and  baneful ;  and' 
also  between  what  is  right  and  difficult,  and  what  is 
wrong  and  easy ;  and  the  praise  which  they  award  to 
an  individual  for  doing  what  is  right  in  the  face  of 
formidable  difficulties  is  not  only  regarded  as  the 
highest,  but  is  always  rendered  with  promptitude  and 
cordiality;  while  the  condemnation  pronounced  against 
individuals  who  before  the  slightest  temptations  give 
way  to  base  dispositions,  mean  motives,  and 
selfish  principles,  is  equally  prompt  and  hearty,  but 
at  the  same  time  with  opposite  feelings.  Again,  men 
are  ever  ready  to  avow  what  they  believe  to  be  good 
dispositions,  worthy  motives,  and  beneficial  actions  ; 
while  they  are  eagerly  anxious  to  conceal  what  they 
conceive  to  be  base  dispositions,  wrong  motives,  and 
selfish  principles.  This  readiness  to  avow  the  one 
class,  and  to  cherish  delight  in  the  consciousness  of 
meriting  the  praise  which  is  rendered  to  the  man 
possessing  that  class  ;  and  the  eagerness  to  conceal  the 
other  class,  and  shrink  from  tlie  consequences  which  its 
possession  entails,  can  only  be  fully  accounted  for  on 
the  supposition  that  man  is  conscious  of  a  power  over 
his  dispositions,  motives,  and  principles  of  action.  If 
man  possesses  no  power  over  these,  this  experience 
and  practice  is  an  anomaly — a  contradiction  in  man, 
and  an  unacountablc  providence  of  God. 

And  God  holds  man  responsible  for  the  dispositions 


THE  POWER  OF  CHOICE.  119 

lie  clierislies,  the  motives  lie  prefers,  the  principles  on 
which  he  acts.  God  comes  into  the  heart  of  man  or 
withdraws  from  it  in  virtue  of  the  dispositions  he 
cherishes,  and  God  bestows  joy  or  grief,  a  sense  of  dig- 
nity or  a  feeling  of  degradation,  through  means  of  the 
dispositions,  motives,  and  principles,  which  have  their 
seat  in  the  heart.  This  is  an  immutable  law  of  God's 
fellowship  with  man — He  bestows  satisfaction  or  dis- 
satisfaction, praise  or  blame ;  He  favours  or  frowns 
on  this  principle  of  intercourse — He  ever  has  done  so, 
and  He  ever  will  do  so.  No  man  may  look  for  agree- 
able and  delightful  fellowship  with  God  while  cherish- 
ing ungodly  dispositions,  motives,  or  principles ;  and 
let  no  individual  dread  the  displeasure  or  abandon- 
ment of  God,  while  cherishing  those  of  which  He 
approves.  And  why  does  God  deal  thus  with  man  ? 
Surely  on  the  ground  that  He  holds  man  responsible 
for  these  things.  And  why  does  He  hold  man  respon- 
sible for  these,  unless  on  the  ground  that  He  has 
given  to  him  the  power  of  choice  in  regard  to  them  ? 
Man's  power  over  his  dispositions  would  seem  to 
be  more  immediate  and  direct  than  over  his  opinions 
and  principles.  In  his  choice  of  objects,  man  is 
influenced  by  his  ideas,  and  in  his  choice  of  ideas  he 
is  influenced  by  his  dispositions,  and  in  his  disposi- 
tions he  displays  his  inner  self;  hence  the  keen  sensi- 
tiveness, the  special  jealousy,  with  which  he  regards  the 
light  in  which  his  dispositions  are  viewed  by  others, 
and  the  care  which  he  takes  to  make  his  conduct, 
especially,  in  so  far  as  it  is  influenced  by  his  disposi- 
tions, appear  to  be  correct  in  the  view  of  his  fellows. 


I20  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

Man,  then,  as  read  in  the  liglit  of  his  own  con- 
sciousness, evinces  the  fact  that  he  is  possessed  of  the 
power  of  choice  in  reference  to  objects,  opinions, 
motives,  and  dispositions — that  he  is  a  free  agent,  and 
responsible  both  to  God  and  man. 


(    X2I    ) 


CPIAPTER  VIIL 

TRIAL. 

The  gift  of  tlie  power  of  choice,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
involves  the  possibility  of  its  abuse,  the  responsibility 
of  its  use,  and  light  for  its  guidance.  The  power  of 
choice  without  the  implied  possibility  of  its  abuse 
would  be  a  contradiction.  If  the  one  scale  of  the 
balance  be  able  to  go  up,  the  other  must  be  able  to 
go  down. 

Irresponsible  power  can  be  the  trust  only  of  absolute 
perfection,  not  of  fallible  being.  The  possession  of 
the  power  of  choice,  necessarily  involves  the  possibility 
of  a  right  or  a  wrong  exercise  of  it.  If  the  power  of 
choice  could  be  exercised  without  the  possibility  of 
choosing  wrong,  then  would  there  be  no  real,  but 
merely  a  formal  choice.  If  the  result  of  any  and 
every  choice  w^ere  the  same,  there  could  be  no  scope 
for  the  exercise  of  moral  choice ;  and  to  regulate  the 
exercise  of  the  power  of  choice,  a  principle  of  nature 
and  a  rule  of  life  are  necessary.  This  principle  of 
nature  is  the  love  of  wellbeino;  and  welldoino^.  The 
love  of  wellbeing  and  of  welldoing  is  the  deepest, 
most  enduring,  and  indestructible  principle  of  all 
.moral  existence.     If  the  love  of  wellbein2:  and  well- 


122  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

doing  be  not  tlie  deepest  and  most  indestructible 
principle  of  all  moral  nature  and  life,  then  there  must 
be  another ;  and  thus  the  moral  creature  would  not  be 
constituted  in  the  most  favourable  manner  for  virtue 
and  holiness.  And  to  enable  man  to  act  in  accordance 
with  this  principle  of  moral  nature,  he  must  be  fur- 
nished with  a  rule  of  action,  and  this  rule  of  action 
must  be  the  expression  of  God's  will,  for  no  being  but 
God  can  be  the  absolute  judge  of  right  and  wrong ;  for 
none  but  the  Omniscient  can  trace  the  consequences 
of  any  action  down  the  stream  of  time,  and  over  the 
broad  ocean  of  eternity,  and  perceive  all  the  possible, 
as  well  as  all  the  actual  results  that  flow  from  it ; 
and  without  being  able  to  do  this,  no  being  can  be 
the  infallible  judge  of  the  right  and  wrong  of  action. 
That  man  is  incapable  of  being  the  infallible  judge  of 
his  own  actions  is  clear  from  the  fact  that  what 
appears  to  him  at  one  time  to  be  trivial,  often  turns 
out  in  its  consequences  to  be  the  most  important 
event  of  his  life,  whereas  many  of  the  results  of 
individual  action,  which  are  looked  forward  to  with 
deepest  anxiety,  turn  out  in  their  consequences  to  be 
insignificant  and  worthless. 

The  hiofhest  reason  of  action  in  the  creature  is  the 
will  of  the  Creator.  This  will  is  not  only  supreme 
in  authority,  but  absolutely  right  in  itself,  and  ever 
productive  of  the  harmony  of  all  nature  and  life.  In 
acting,  then,  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  God,  the 
creature  preserves  his  subjective  in  oneness  with  the 
subjective  of  God.  The  principle  of  implicit  obedi- 
ence is  the  bond  of  union  between  man  and  God. 


I  RIAL.  123 

The  autliority  or  expressed  will  of  God  is  that  in 
which  God  comes  down  to  man,  and  the  recognition  of 
this  authority,  or  imphcit  obedience  to  the  will  of  God, 
is  that  in  which  man  assimilates  to  God.  The  will  of 
God  is  expressed  in  the  constitution  of  the  universe, 
it  is  uttered  in  the  conscience  of  man,  and  is  re-echoed 
in  the  pages  of  revelation ;  and  a  holy  creature  will 
ever  be  ready  to  do  the  will  of  God,  that  he  may  realise 
his  supreme  delight  in  conforming  himself  in  heart 
and  life  to  God. 

In  a  state  of  holiness,  or  perfect  condition  of  life, 
the  innocent  child  of  the  Father  of  spirits  dwells  in 
the  bright  visions  of  the  Infinite,  in  the  clear  light  of 
the  true,  in  the  ready  perception  of  the  suitableness  of 
God's  authority.  In  this  state  there  is  no  jarring 
emotion  to  disturb  the  security  of  his  peace,  no  shade 
of  obscurity  to  darken  his  visions  of  the  Divine,  no 
apprehensions  of  fear  to  awaken  disquietude  within. 
With  holy  harmony  reigning  within,  and  perfect  order 
without,  obedience  is  as  easy  as  the  inhaling  of  pure  air 
by  the  healthy  organ  of  breathing,  as  delightful  as  the 
outo-oing  of  love.  Temptation  can  only  be  realised 
when  there  is  a  power  adequate  to  obscure  the  vision 
of  God  in  the  heart  of  the  subject  of  temptation,  and 
impair  the  sense  of  obligation  to  the  Divine.  This 
power  may  consist  in  the  ability  to  present  the  objects 
of  sense  so  as  to  captivate  the  imagination  and  in- 
flame the  desire,  and  thus  withdraw  the  attention 
from  what  is  going  on  in  the  subjective,  and  by  this 
means  magnify  the  objective  so  as  to  falsify  its  rela- 
tions to  the  subjective,  and  thus  allure  the  ^^■ill. 


124  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

And  in  a  state  of  trial,  and  condition  of  moral  pio- 
bation,  tliere  must  be  in  the  subject  of  temptation, 
whether  in  an  unfallen  or  fallen  sphere  of  life,  a  possi- 
bility of  realising  an  obscuration  of  the  vision  of  God  ; 
and  such  a  possibility  might  be  realised  through  means 
of  giving  an  undue  attention  to  the  outer;  yielding 
to  the  fascination  of  the  external,  and  allowing  it  to 
allure  the  attention  from  the  watchfulness  due  to  what 
is  taking  place  in  the  internal. 

In  dallying  Avith  temptation  there  is  a  yielding  to 
the  power  of  the  tempter,  a  realisation  of  the  increas- 
ing influence  of  the  outer  over  the  inner,  of  desire 
over  the  perception  of  right,  duty,  interest ;  and  this 
will  ever  increase  in  its  influence  in  the  temj)ter  if  he 
does  not  at  once  dismiss  the  tempter  by  instantly 
turning  to  God.  In  yielding  to  temptation,  the  ob- 
jective is  allowed  to  obscure  the  subjective,  and  the 
desire  to  obtain  the  imagined  good  prevails  over  the 
fear  of  doing  what  is  doubtful  or  injurious.  And  in 
resolving  to  secure  the  imagined  good,  there  is  a 
departure  from  God,  and  a  violation  of  the  necessary 
conditions  of  wellbeing^.  There  is  the  closino;  in 
W'ith  the  suggestions  of  the  tempter,  instead  of  indors- 
ing the  promptings  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  co-oper- 
ating with  Him  in  working  out  what  He  works  in 
man  to  will  and  to  do.  And  thus  departure  from  the 
law  of  rectitude  may  take  place  at  once,  or,  after  a 
prolonged  struggle,  it  may  be  brought  about  heed- 
lessly, rashly,  or  delibcratel}^' ;  but  in  all  cases  there  is 
more  or  less  anxiety  and  inner  conflict.  Bias  may 
blunt  the  perception,  desire  may   obscure  the   judg- 


TRIAL.  125 

ment,  and  passion  may  cany  the  will,  but  tliere  is 
always  tlie  consciousness  of  a  personal  act,  preferring 
self  to  God,  and  this  consciousness  is  a  witness  that 
the  volition  is  not  adopted  for  the  glory  of  God  in 
the  maintenance  of  the  order  established  by  Him. 

In  yielding  to  temptation — in  resolving  independ- 
ently of,  and  in  opposition  to,  the  will  of  God — there 
is  the  formation  of  a  new  combination,  the  introduc- 
tion of  an  element  of  conflict,  the  termination  of  the 
harmonious  order  of  the  Divine,  the  commencement 
of  an  endless  strife  in  the  human.  In  willing  without 
God,  and,  of  course,  in  opposition  to  Him,  there  is  the 
introduction  into  the  consciousness  of  an  element 
which  disturbs  the  inner  life  and  sets  the  internal 
powers  into  conflict,  and  an  abiding  conviction  of  sin 
and  guilt  is  the  result ;  and  escape  from  this  conviction 
is  impossible  to  man,  for  he  can  neither  deny  his  sin, 
nor  chanfre  its  character,  nor  alter  its  results.  In 
resolving  to  act  as  he  has  done,  the  sinner  has  deranged 
the  harmony  of  nature,  and  frustrated  the  benevolent 
design  of  God  ;  he  has  violated  the  inner  requirements 
of  his  own  wellbeing,  and  acted  in  opposition  to  the 
first  principles  of  the  constituted  order  of  the  universe  ; 
he  has  shut  himself  up  in  the  consciousness  of  having 
done  what  he  should  not  have  done,  and  this  con- 
viction cannot  but  be  the  tormenting  demon  of  his 
recollection. 

By  the  preference  man  has  given  to  temptation  he 
has  banished  God  from  the  inner  of  his  soul ;  and  by 
so  doing  he  has  lost  the  direct  vision  of  the  Holy  One, 
the  consciousness  of  innocence,  the  agreement  of  will 


126  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

and  desire  with  the  will  and  law  of  God.  The  har- 
mony of  God's  work  within,  and  His  administration 
over  the  sinner,  is  no  longer  realised  in  a  conscious- 
ness of  perfection  of  being  and  life.  The  enjoyment 
of  a  blissful  fellowship  with  the  Father  of  spirits  in 
the  consciousness  of  a  oneness  of  subjective  and 
objective  with  the  objective  and  subjective  Divine  is 
no  longer  possessed.  The  approach  of  God,  in  the 
more  immediate  manifestations  of  Himself,  is  no 
longer  delighted  in  as  the  drawings  near  of  an  approv- 
ing Father,  but  dreaded  as  the  descent  of  an  avenging 
Judge.  There  is  likewise  an  acquisition  as  well  as  a 
deprivation,  viz.,  the  acquisition  of  the  feeling  of 
separation  from  and  unlikeness  to  God,  and  of  con- 
flict with  Him ;  also  a  realisation  of  inner  strife  and 
woe.  In  this  experience  then  is  the  realisation  of  a 
void,  an  inner  derangement,  a  dread,  a  conflict,  and 
a  bondage  to  self. 

Throuirh  trans frression  the  sinner  disturbs  and 
deranges  God's  order  of  combination,  and  forms  a  new 
and  diiferent  one  of  his  own.  But  in  this  new  com- 
bination in  the  consciousness  of  the  transgressor,  there 
is  no  creation  of  original  substance  or  faculty  ;  there 
is,  however,  the  creation  of  a  new  power,  the  convic- 
tion of  having  resolved  falsely  is  a  new  element  in 
the  inner  existence  of  man,  and  a  tremendous  power 
for  evil.  In  the  formation  of  this  combination,  there 
is  the  commencement  of  new  operations,  and  the 
inner  of  the  disturber  of  order  becomes  the  scene  of 
disorder,  conflict,  and  woe.  The  afl'ections  of  the 
transgressor   are   no   longer   in   sympathy   with  the 


TRIAL.  127 

Divine,  his  tlionglits  are  no  longer  in  harmony  ^Yith 
the  true,  nor  his  will  any  longer  in  union  with  the 
riirht,  he  is  alienated  from  the  Divine  and  enslaved 
to  the  false,  he  is  in  conflict  with  God  and  with  his 
own  conscience.  "  The  way  of  the  transgressor  is 
hard,"  and  he  is  utterly  helpless  in  his  efforts  to 
escape  from  this  struggle.  "  There  is  no  peace  for 
the  wicked."  "Dead  in  trespasses  and  sin,"  unable  to 
approjDriate  the  immediate  manifestations  of  the 
Divine  so  as  to  nourish  his  soul  on  the  "  Bread  "  of 
life,  he  is  sold  to  self. 

Transgression  cannot  but  deprive  the  transgressor 
of  the  loveliness  of  innocence  and  the  imao^e  of  God. 
No  creature  can  act  in  ojiposition  to  the  end  of  his 
existence  and  remain  in  the  image  of  God.  Trans- 
gression must  deprive  the  transgressor  of  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  rectitude  of  his  doing.  No  indi- 
vidual can  do  what  he  doubts  to  be  right,  or  fears  to 
be  wrong,  and  still  retaiji  the  consciousness  of  the 
rectitude  of  his  doine^s.  Transo-ression  must  awaken 
in  the  sinner  a  sense  of  the  unworthiness  of  his  doino; 
and  being,  it  must  arouse  wdthin  him  the  operation 
of  the  reactionary  principles  of  his  life,  and  the  con- 
demnation of  his  conscience.  Every  moral  creature 
possesses  a  sense  of  right,  an  inward  satisfaction  in 
doing  what  is  right,  and  an  inner  dissatisfaction  in 
doing  what  he  knows  to  be  wrong,  and  the  conscious- 
ness of  doing  what  he  knows  to  be  wrong  must  arouse 
this  feeling  of  dissatisfaction,  and  jDroduce  in  him  the 
loss  of  harmony  with  the  Divine.  The  evil  doing  of 
the    transgressor  must  disturb  the    relations   of  his 


128  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

being,  and  deprive  liim  of  tlie  consciousness  of  inno- 
cence and  delightful  fellowship  with  God,  it  must 
awaken  the  feeling  of  unworthiuess  and  the  effort  to 
escape  from  his  inner  condemnation  and  distress,  it 
must  quicken  consciousness  so  as  to  make  him  feel 
the  disturbance  he  has  produced.  The  evil  doing  of 
the  transgressor  must  separate  him  from  his  Father, 
and  bring  him  under  His  displeasure,  and  create  a 
hungering  in  the  deeper  instincts  of  his  spirit.  If 
God  be  not  a  mere  abstraction,  if  there  be  in  Him  a 
recomition  of  the  obedience  and  disobedience  of  His 
creatures,  and  an  approval  of  the  right,  and  a  disap- 
proval of  the  wrong,  then  the  transgression  of  His 
law  must  awaken  in  Him  displeasure  towards  the 
transgressor,  and  He  cannot  fail  to  manifest  His  dis- 
pleasure by  the  withdrawal  of  all  sense  of  His  appro- 
bation from  the  violator  of  His  law,  and  to  awaken 
within  him  the  consciousness  of  wrath,  and  thus  a 
separation  must  take  place  between  the  transgressor 
and   God.      The   transc^ressor    cannot   delight   in   a 

CD  O 

frowning  God,  and  God  cannot  regard  with  com- 
placency the  breaker  of  His  law. 

Has  man,  then,  transgressed  the  law  of  his  life, 
or  has  he  made  the  right  use  of  the  power  of  choice  ? 
Has  he  kept  himself  in  the  love  of  God,  endorsed 
and  carried  out  the  Divine  rule  of  combination 
set  before  him  in  the  established  order  of  the  uni- 
verse ?  Has  he  preserved,  in  a  holy  life,  his  har- 
mony of  being,  his  rectitude  of  will,  his  fellowship 
of  spirit  with  his  Father  ?  Is  the  subjective  and  ob- 
jective of  the  human  one  with    the   subjective  and 


TRIAL.  129 

oLjective  Divine.  Does  man  in  liis  inner  being 
move  divineward,  and  only  divineward — clierisli 
right,  and  only  right  dispositions — entertain  correct, 
and  only  correct  ideas — act  on  just,  and  only  just 
principles  ?  Does  he  undeviatingly  pursue  the  one 
end  of  his  existence  in  the  exercise  of  the  power 
of  choice,  look  only  to  God  for  direction,  and 
seek  to  live  in  the  consciousness  that  he  can  be 
blessed,  and  glorious  only,  as  his  subjective  is  one 
with  the  subjective  of  God. 

Let  universal  consciousness,  the  prevailing  sense 
of  mankind,  the  incessant  efforts  of  man  answer  the 
question.  These  cannot  say  that  the  feelings  of 
humanity  move  in  harmony  with  the  will  of  God. 
Man's  consciousness  does  not  testify  that  his  most 
fervent  affections,  his  most  eager  aspirations,  are 
ever  Godward,  that  his  conceptions  of  being  and 
observations  of  life  are  at  all  times  correct ;  that 
his  motives,  principles,  and  actions,  are  what  they 
should  always  be  what  he  himself  conceives  they 
ought  to  be.  No,  the  accusations  and  struggles 
of  his  conscience,  the  immoralities,  crimes,  and 
experience  of  his  life,  clearly  establish  the  fact 
that  man  is  not  unfolding  his  constitution,  or  de- 
veloping the  principles  of  his  nature  in  accordance 
with  the  end  of  his  existence.  He,  alas !  is  no 
stranger  to  deep-heaved  sighs,  or  heavy-burdened 
groans  and  unavailing  efforts. 

Man  must  be  either  perfect  or  imperfect.  If  he  is 
perfect,  he  is  fully  satisfied  with  his  condition,  wholly 
contented  with   his  life,  complete  in  the  enjoyment 


130  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

of  conscious  fellowship  witli  God,  himself,  and  his 
fellows,  all  the  powers  of  his  nature  moving  in 
undisturbed  harmony  with  the  principles  of  his 
constitution,  and  all  the  functions  of  his  soul 
sympathetic  with  the  Divine.  But  the  least  discern- 
ment of  man's  present  condition,  or  the  slightest 
reflection  on  the  struggles  of  his  life,  shows  that 
such  is  not  the  case.  No,  the  ever  and  anon  con- 
sciousness, the  universal  sense  of  mankind,  the 
ever  strivinef  efforts  of  man,  tell  in  clearest  lioht 
that  he  is  not  at  ease  in  his  life,  contented  with 
his  lot,  perfect  in  his  nature. 

To  what,  then,  is  all  this  imperfection  of  human 
life  to  be  traced — to  the  design,  plan,  and  workman- 
ship of  God,  or  to  man's  abuse  of  his  power  of 
choice  ?  Surely  it  cannot  be  traced  to  the  former, 
only  to  the  latter.  God,  in  His  infinite  wisdom 
and  benevolence,  would  never  produce  a  creature 
to  be  ever  struggling  against  the  Author  of  his 
existence  and  the  conditions  of  his  wellbeino:  :  this 
would  have  been  to  have  created  man  in  conflict 
with  the  principles  of  his  own  nature,  the  end,  and 
necessities  of  his  life.  It  would  have  been  to  render 
fellowship  with  God  2:)0ssible  only  through  the 
consciousness  of  His  wrath. 

Man  has  abused  his  power  of  choice,  and  in  this 
abuse  he  has  formed  combination  different  from  God's, 
and  the  proof  of  his  having  done  so  is  seen  in  his 
dislike  to  God,  and  in  his  efforts  to  modify  or  get  rid 
of  the  demands  of  the  Divine  law,  that  he  may  give 
himself  up  to  the  gratifications  of  self     And  in  this 


TRIAL.  131 


liis  folly  is  apparent,  for  pleasure-seeking  is  not  the 
end  of  man's  being,  but  the  propensions  of  his  animal 
nature  towards  gratification,  Man's  animal  instincts 
move,  and  with  it  they  are  satisfied.  The  search 
after  truth  in  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  is  not  the 
end  of  man's  being,  but  of  man's  rational  life  ;  towards 
science  and  philosophy  his  intellectual  faculties  move, 
and  in  the  attainment  of  truth  repose.  Yet  man 
strives  to  rest  here.  Worthiness,  however,  in  the 
conscious  rectitude  of  man's  being  and  life,  in  a  sense  of 
oneness  with  God,  is  the  end  of  his  existence ;  for  in 
this  his  soul  delights,  and  aspires  to  no  higher  enjoy- 
ment. Man  realises  a  fulness  of  an  unalloyed  bliss 
in  the  consciousness  that  his  subjective  and  objective 
are  one  with  the  subjective  and  objective  of  God.  But 
this  is  not  the  object  for  the  attainment  of  which 
every  man  strives. 

Man's  experience  proves  that  he  is  in  a  condition  of 
conflict  Avith  himself  and  of  disobedience  with  God  ; 
disorder  within  and  without  reiorns  in  his  life.  The 
principles  of  his  nature  do  not  move  in  harmony,  his 
desires  are  not  sympathetic  with  the  conditions  of  his 
wellbeing ;  he  is  not  satisfied  with  his  present  state, 
he  lon^s  after  a  hiHier  order  of  beinof,  and  strives  in- 
cessantly  to  rise  superior  to  the  calamities  of  his  life. 
Man  endeavours  to  escape  from  the  upbraidings  of  his 
conscience,  the  perplexity  of  his  mind,  the  misgiv- 
ings of  his  heart,  the  anxieties  of  his  spirit — these  are 
known  to  all,  and  do  what  he  will  he  cannot  surmount 
the  evils  of  his  present  state. 

Man  cannot  deny  that  he  groans  under  the  pressure 


132  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

of  evil ;  that  he  is  existing  in  a  state  of  couflict  with 
God    Himself  and   the  conditions  of  his  wellbeing, 
that  he  lonirs  for  a  hi2;her  and  a  better  state,  a  more 
satisfying    condition    of  being  and   life.      He   must 
admit  that  he  struggles  with  evils  which  he  cannot 
avoid ;    he  must   allow   that    his   body  is    diseased 
and  dying ;  that  his  mind  is  ignorant  and  perplexed. 
He  cannot  deny  that  his  conscience  is  ever  accusing 
and  excusing  himself ;  nor  Avill  he  refuse  to  acknow- 
ledo-e  that  he  ofttimes  desires  that  God's  law  should  be 
different  from  what  it  is.     Nor  will  he  refuse  to  con- 
fess that  he  labours  to  propitiate  God,   and  that  he 
does    so   in   vain.     Yes,  the  whole   being,  life,  and 
circumstances   of  man,  prove  that  he  is  in   a  state 
of  disorder  and  conflict,  and  that  if  his  calamities  are 
not  greater,  this  is  not  traceable  to  himself  nor  to  any 
counteracting  power  in  his  nature,  but  solely  to  the 
restraining  grace  of  God,  and  the  merciful  dispensa- 
tion man  is  placed  under.     Is  this,  then,  the  state  in 
which  God  originally  placed  man,  or  is  it  one  into  which 
he  has  brought  himself.     It   cannot  be    the  one   in 
which  he  was  created,  for,  as  we  have  seen,  man's  pre- 
sent state  of  existence  is  one  of  conflict  with  himself, 
with  the  Author  and  end  of  his  existence  ;  and  to  have 
produced  man  in  such  a  state  would  have  been  to 
manifest  weakness  and  wickedness  w^hich  we  cannot 
attribute  to  God.'      A  nature  in  conflict  with  itself, 
the  Author  of  its  being,  and  the  end  of  its  existence, 
exhibits  the  highest  possible  evidence  of  being  in  a 
'  fallen  condition. 

The  constitution  of  man  displays  a  skill,  power,  and 


TRIAL.  133 

benignity  wliich,  notwitlistanding  Mill's  surmises  to 
the  contrary,  we  believe  few  reflecting  men  will  hesi- 
tate to  regard  as  boundless.  Humanity  is  so  constituted 
that  it  is  impossible  for  man  to  act  in  harmony  with 
himself,  with  the  Author  of  his  being,  and  with  the 
end  of  his  existence,  without  enjoying  an  elevating 
repose.  Man  is  constituted  in  the  likeness  of  God, 
and  formed  to  find  his  true  perfection  and  life  in 
fellowship  with  the  Divine,  but  he  is  so  perverse  in 
his  dispositions,  so  biased  in  his  will,  so  conceited  in 
his  notions,  that  he  is  ever  striving  to  live  in  opposi- 
tion to  his  highest  interests,  his  sense  of  duty,  his  con- 
victions of  right,  and  hence,  his  burdened  conscience, 
his  sufFerino;  condition,  his  inner  conflict,  stru2f2:le,  and 
woe.  It  would  be  the  stransrest  of  all  contradictions 
to  imagine  that  God  has  created  man  with  capacity 
which  can  only  be  satisfied  with  the  indwelling  of  the 
Divine,  and  has  at  the  same  time  implanted  within 
him  a  deep-rooted  aversion  to  Himself. 

We  may  discard  this  supposition  as  absolutely 
impossible.  It  is  possible  to  conceive  that,  through 
insanity,  the  architect  of  a  magnificent  temple  might 
contemplate  it  in  a  state  of  ruin  with  satisfaction  and 
joy ;  that  a  monarch,  through  some  hallucination, 
might  delight  in  a  revolution  of  his  empire  and  in 
the  rebel  condition  of  his  subjects  ;  or  that  a  parent, 
through  intellectual  derangement,  might  take  pleasure 
in  the  sickness  and  death  of  his  children  ;  but  daring 
impiety  itself  cannot  conceive  of  the  Holy  One  taking 
delight  in  the  ruin  of  His  noblest  work,  the  anarchy 
and  rebellion  of  His  ofi'spring,  the  death  and  ruin  of 


134  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

the  immortal  spirit  LrcatLed  from  Himself.  Man's 
present  condition  is  traceable  alone  to  his  abuse  of 
his  power  of  choice,  in  the  formation  of  a  combination 
different  from  what  God  established  in  His  creation 
when  He  breathed  into  him  the  breath  of  life. 


(  135) 


CHAPTER   IX. 

RETRIBUTION. 

God  lias  created  elements  of  being  cajDable  of  endless 
variety  in  combination,  and  lias  set  agents  over  these 
elements  to  combine  tliem  for  every  variety  of  pur- 
pose. In  particular  essences  God  has  placed  certain 
forces  and  faculties,  to  certain  emotions  He  has 
attached  certain  sympathies,  to  certain  ideas  certain 
sensations,  to  certain  convictions  certain  realisations  ; 
and  over  these  He  has  placed  will,  conscience,  person- 
ality, and  commanded  man  in  all  his  doings  to  obey 
His  law,  and  has  warned  man  against  bringing  the 
'powers  and  principles  of  his  being  into  conflict  and 
discord  by  transgressing  His  law. 

Original  elements  possess  primary  forces  and  sus- 
ceptibilities which  act  not  in  themselves,  nor  in  their 
individual  capacity,  but  in  combination  wdth  other 
powers.  Primary  forces  are  known  under  the  desig- 
nation of  chemical,  mechanical,  and  vital  powers  and 
influences.  These  are  capable  of  endless  variety  in 
combination,  and  into  whatever  combination  they  are 
brought,  they  operate  in  accordance  with  their  original 
nature,  and  the  relations  they  sustain  in  the  combina- 
tion. 


i-,6  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 


J 


Agents  arc  endowed  with  tlic  power  and  respon- 
sibility of  clioice  in  forming  new  combinations.  In 
the  evolutions  and  development  of  nature,  and  in 
forming  new  combinations,  they  act  under  the  con- 
viction of  doing  what  is  right,  or  the  apprehension  of 
doing  what  is  wrong.  No  original  primary  or  simple 
power  or  disposition  is  conflictive  in  itself.  If  the 
forces  of  nature  are  combined  in  harmony,  they  act 
for  God,  and  in  acting  for  God  they  act  in  concord 
with  one  another ;  and  in  acting  in  accordance  with 
the  law  of  God,  they  develop  in  the  most  vigorous 
forms  the  powers  and  cajDabilities  of  their  being.  All 
power  and  capacity  have  been  created  to  subserve  the 
Divine  purpose,  but  they  have  also  been  called  into 
existence  w^ith  the  possibility  of  being  brought  into 
combinations  of  discord  with  God,  and  with  them- 
selves. In  other  words,  they  have  been  created  with 
the  capability  of  operating  in  harmony  or  in  discord 
with  God,  and  with  one  another. 

In  every  combination  of  matter,  each  atom,  how- 
ever insignificant,  tells  in  the  whole.  In  every  com- 
bination of  sound,  from  the  faintest  whisper  to  the 
loudest  thunder,  whether  in  harmony  or  discord,  each 
tone,  thouirh  not  discerned  or  even  discernible  in  itself 
to  the  ordinary  ear,  has  its  own  part  in  the  concert 
or  the  storm  ;  every  atom  or  shade  in  the  combina- 
tions of  colour,  although  not  perceptible  in  itself  to 
the  keenest  e}'c,  has  its  own  part  in  the  effect  pro- 
duced ;  every  flaw  or  unsoundness  in  the  material 
and  in  the  construction  of  a  machine,  thouirh  not  in 
tlie  most  careful  scrutiny  detected,  has  its  influence 


* 


RETRIBUTION.  137 

in  weakening  the  efficiency  of  tlie  machine,  and 
securing  loss  through  its  break  clown;  every  sensation, 
desire,  emotion,  action,  whether  agreeable  or  disagree- 
able, tells  in  the  formation  of  the  character,  and  in 
the  realisation  of  the  life.  Chemical,  mechanical, 
and  vital  forces  acting  in  conflict,  must  ever  produce 
disease,  suffering,  and  destruction ;  intellectual  faculties 
acting  in  conflict  must  ever  produce  perplexity,  dis- 
appointment, confusion ;  spiritual  powers  acting  in 
conflict  must  ever  produce  self-condemnation  and 
despair.  The  chemical,  mechanical,  and  vital  forces 
of  nature  acting  in  harmony,  produce  a  true  cosmos  ; 
the  rational  and  spiritual  acting  in  concord  produce 
a  perfect  human  life,  and  secure  a  Divine  fellowship. 

In  all  combination  of  substance,  mechanism,  and 
life,  every  element  has  its  position,  and  plays  its  own 
part ;  this  is  in  accordance  with  the  will  and  purpose 
of  God,  and  His  justice  is  apparent  in  ever  securing 
to  every  element,  of  whatever  kind,  in  whatever  com- 
bination of  relation  or  operation  it  may  be  brought, 
its  own ;  and  this  holds  good,  no  matter  in  what  way 
the  combination  has  been  efl'ected,  whether  blindly  or 
with  intelligence,  whether  intentionally  or  uninten- 
tionally. In  combination,  motive  may  clash  with 
will,  desire  with  conscience,  interest  with  conviction, 
but  God  secures  to  each  its  own  place  and  part ;  He 
is  no  respecter  of  things  any  more  than  of  persons. 
His  justice  is  not  impaired,  but  rather  the  more  con- 
spicuously illustrated,  in  His  securing  calamity  from 
discord  of  combination  and  inicpiity  of  life.  The  grand 
end  of  His  providence  in  the  present  state  of  being  is 


1^,8  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 


'J 


to  afford  full  scope  for  the  formation  of  every  possible 
combination,  and  for  the  full  operation  of  every  power 
in  every  combination,  and  to  secure  tlie  natural  result 
of  all  elements  in  tlic  several  combinations,  wlietlier 
they  are  combinations  of  concord  or  discord,  or 
partially  of  both.  It  is  the  design  of  God,  in  His 
present  government  of  the  world,  to  show  to  princi- 
palities and  powers,  in  heavenly  and  earthly  "places," 
what  endless  variety  of  combinations  may  be  made  in 
human  life,  and  what  must  be  the  inevitable  results 
of  these  combinations  when  brought  about. 

No  power,  not  misdirected,  can  produce  disease, 
deformity,  suffering,  or  death ;  but  all  powers,  acting 
in  discord  with  the  will  of  God  and  with  one  another, 
do  produce  in  the  degree  of  their  vigour,  and  in  the 
measure  of  their  activity,  deformity,  disease,  suffering, 
and  death.  When  the  powers  of  nature  are  combined 
in  discord,  they  operate  in  opposition  to  the  develop- 
ment of  their  higher  functions,  they  interfere  with  the 
wellbeing  of  creation,  and  bring  destruction  on  what- 
ever comes  under  their  sway.  This  destruction  is, 
however,  only  of  the  mechanism  or  combination  of 
the  substances  in  which  their  j^owers  inhere.  When 
the  powers  of  rational  life  are  united  in  harmonious 
combination,  intelligence  and  godliness  are  the  result ; 
when  they  are  combined  in  conflict,  error  and  degrada- 
tion are  the  result.  It  is  a  fundamental  principle,  an 
immutable  law  of  combination,  exjDressive  of  the 
design  and  determination  of  God,  that  every  com- 
bination of  elements  and  powers  of  life  shall  secure 
its  owii  result ;  and  this  design  is  as  really,  though 


RETRIBUTION.  139 

not  directly,  answered  in  the  destructive  effects  of 
•the  one  combination,  as  in  the  enjoyment  and  progress 
of  the  other. 

The  development  of  the  capabilities  of  elements,  and 
of  the  functions  of  agents  in  concord,  is  the  design  of 
God  in  the  established  order  of  the  universe.  And 
the  deformity,  suffering,  and  death  which  result  from 
the  combinations  man  has  formed,  are  also  designed 
and  determined  by  God.  The  one,  however,  is  im- 
mediately, the  other  mediately,  determined  by  God. 
That  He  does  not  desire  a  conflictinof  combination  is 
seen  in  the  fact,  that  every  conflictiug  combination  of 
matter  terminates  sooner  or  later  in  the  dissolution 
of  the  mechanism  or  combination  itself,  or  in  the 
derangement  and  strife  of  the  powers  of  sj)iritual 
essence,  which,  being  incapable  of  the  dissolution  of 
its  mechanism,  continues  to  suffer.  Agents,  in  form- 
ing combinations  of  discord,  usually  act  in  opposition 
to  their  convictions  of  right,  and  thus  violate  the  first 
principle  of  moral  agency.  Every  agent  must  form 
some  combinations,  and  those  who  will  not  form  com- 
binations with  the  Divine  or  with  the  godly,  must 
form  them  with  the  diabolic  or  the  selfish,  and  in  the 
retributive  conscience  receive  their  reward,  as  did 
Belshazzar,  Tiberias,  and  Charles  IX.  of  France. 

If  beings  entrusted  with  the  power  of  choice  will 
abuse  that  trust  by  bringing  the  element  over  which 
they  have  control  into  combinations  of  discord,  God 
may  not  be  expected  to  arrest  the  natural  action  of 
the  several  powers  in  their  combinations  and  alter 
their  relative  influence.     It  is  folly  to   assume  that 


140  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

He  may  cease  to  n2:)liold  these  powers  now  tliat  tliey" 
are  brought  into  a  combination  of  conflict,  and  sus- 
pend their  operations  the  moment  they  are  brought 
into  the  relation  of  discord.  When  man  vioLates 
the  conditions  of  his  wcllbeinof,  God  is  not  to  iro  back 
in  His  purpose  and  alter  the  constituted  order  of  the 
universe  ;  were  He  capable  of  doing  this,  the  con- 
sistency of  His  government  would  be  at  an  end,  and 
His  wisdom  might  be  questioned.  God  will  not 
destroy  combinations  nor  restrain  in  any  way  the 
nature  of  powers,  or  alter  them  in  any  degree  in  their 
operations  of  conflict,  but  will  maintain  them  in  the 
full  strength  of  their  action,  until,  in  accordance  with 
their  nature,  they  exhaust  their  energies  in  the 
conflict,  or  resolve  their  substances  into  their  original 
elements.  And  if  the  substance  in  Avliich  the  powers 
in  conflict  act  be  incapable  of  dissolution,  such,  e.g., 
as  mind,  then  will  He  sustain  it  in  the  conflict  of  its 
powers  throughout  ceaseless  ages.  Influences,  powers, 
and  agencies  may  act  upon  individuals  insidiously  or 
imperceptibly  in  preparing  them  for  disobedience,  yet 
they  do  so  none  the  less  efficiently.  Indeed,  it  is 
generally  through  the  operation  of  imperceptible 
influences  that  men  are  prepared  for  acting  rightfully 
or  Avrongfully.  Agents  may  act  intentionally  or 
unintentionally,  but  whatever  combination  they  form, 
the  result  of  that  combination  must  be  realised,  and 
then  shall  they  be  made  to  know  that  tliey  sliall  reap 
the  fruit  of  their  doings.  God  will  sustain  the  opera- 
tion of  every  power  while  its  strength  endures,  and 
thus  justice  for  ever   reigns,  and  equity  holds  sway 


RE  TRIE  UTION.  1 4 1 

in  all  tlie    combinations    and   operations  of  liuman 

life. 

Nor  does  it  matter  liow  or  in  what  way  tlie  com- 
Lination  of  conflict  may  be  brought  about,  whether 
designedly  or  heedlessly,  knowingly  or  unknowingly, 
2:)ious]y  or  impiously,  if  the  combination  be  formed, 
the  forces  of  the  elements  combined  must  act.     Thus, 
if  an  infant  falls  into   a  boiling  caldron,  and  a  new 
combination   be   formed,    we   do   not    suppose    that 
God  will  then  and  there  suspend  the  power  of  heat  to 
burn  or  alter  the    capacity   of  tlie  child's  body  to 
prevent  its  being  scalded.      If  through  carelessness 
a  spark  falls  upon  a  magazine  of  powder,  and  a  new 
combination  of  elements  be  formed,  we  do  not  expect 
that    God    will    arrest    the    action    of    the   explosive 
materials  even  though  thousands  of  lives  be  endan- 
gered, and  numerous   families   be  involved  in  utter 
ruin.      If  in   the   castings  of  a  steam  engine  a  flaw 
escapes  detection ;  if  in  the  building  of  a  vessel  dry 
rot  in   portions  of  the  timber  be   unobserved,  and  a 
combination    of   elements    of    weakness    instead    of 
strength  be  formed  ;  if  the  machinery  break  down, 
or  if  the  boiler  burst,  or  the  ship  spring  a  leak,  we 
do  not  expect  that  God  is   to  work  a  miracle  and 
suspend    the    action    of    the    destroying    powers    to 
prevent  the  ruin  of  those  involved  in  destruction.      If 
a  man  by   mistake    swallows    poison ;    if  a  medical 
practitioner    in    the    discharge    of    his    duty   inhales 
deadly  effluvia  ;    or  if  a  missionary  in  fervent   zeal 
and   self-denying    devotedness   incautiously   exposes 
himself  to   the    treachery   of  savages,    and   thus    a 


142  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

combination  of  destructive  powers  be  formed,  we  are 
not  to  suppose  tliat  God  is  necessitated  to  step 
forward  and  arrest  tlie  operation  of  these  powers,  or 
to  render  the  sufferers  invulnerable.  We  do  not  find 
tliat  He  interferes  witli  any  of  the  combinations  of 
material  substances  throughout  the  varied  forms  in 
nature's  operations,  and  if  He  does  not  in  the  com- 
binations of  matter,  we  can  hardly  imagine  that  He 
interferes  with  the  combinations  of  mind  and 
spirit.  If  a  man  througli  perversion  forms  a  com- 
bination of  error  and  prejudice,  no  one  is  simple 
enough  to  suppose  that  God  will  restrain  the  opera- 
tions of  such  a  combination,  and  rescue  him  from 
the  conflict  of  perplexity  and  doubt  consequent 
thereon.  If  an  individual  by  disobedience  deprives 
himself  of  the  2:)resence  of  God  in  his  soul,  and 
awakens  within  his  breast  the  conviction  of  wrono-- 

O 

doing,  God  is  not,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  suspend 
the  operation  of  the  powers  of  inner  conflict,  re- 
establish harmony,  and  secure  to  the  guilty  conscience 
joy  and  peace. 

In  upholding  the  powers  of  nature  and  securing  to 
them  their  results,  God  displays  His  pleasure  and  dis- 
pleasure, makes  known  His  love  and  admiration,  or 
His  condemnation  and  wrath.  The  approbation  of 
God  is  expressed  in  His  securing  to  the  obedient  the 
reward  of  "  his  keeping  the  law  of  the  Lord ; "  and 
"  thrf  wrath  of  God  "  is  displayed  in  His  bringing  on 
the  disobedient  the  penalty  of  their  disobedience. 
And  thus  the  end  of  God  is  as  really^  though  not  so 
directly,  secured  in  tlie  display  of  "■  His  wrath,"  as  in 


RE  TRIB  UTION.  1 4  3 

the  manifestation  of  His  admiration.  Let  no  one, 
then,  imagine  that  God  will  deny  Himself  and  go 
back  upon  His  work,  to  alter  in  the  least  degree,  or 
weaken  the  force  of  any  power  brought  into  any  com- 
bination of  conflict ;  on  the  contrary.  He  will  main- 
tain them  in  the  full  force  of  their  energy,  until  they 
either  exhaust  their  strength  or  resolve  their  sub- 
stances into  their  primitive  elements.  It  is  a  false 
and  fatal  conception,  and  one  by  no  means  compli- 
mentary to  the  all-Avise  Creator,  to  suppose  that  the 
contending  and  destroying  operations  of  powers  in 
combinations  of  discord  are  not  in  accordance  with 
His  purpose,  and  that  when  disasters  arise  from  any 
combination,  they  do  so  by  accident  and  because  they 
are  not  in  accordance  with  His  design,  and  that  God 
will  sooner  or  later  interfere  to  mitigate  the  sufferings 
and  rescue  from  ruin  those  who  are  involved  in  it. 
Such  suppositions  arise  from  superficial  observations 
of  God's  character  and  designs.  Disapprobation  of 
wrong  is  as  real  a  principle  of  God's  nature  as  appro- 
bation of  right ;  it  exists  in  the  subjective  as  really 
as  it  is  manifested  in  the  objective  Divine  ;  it  is 
embedded  in  the  princij)les  of  all  moral  being,  and 
realised  in  the  experience  of  God's  rational  offspring, 
and  it  is  so  because  it  has  its  seat  in  Himself.  In 
His  intercourse  with  man,  He  holds  him  responsible 
for  his  entire  life  in  all  his  opinions  and  dispositions. 
The  love  of  wellbeimij  and  the  hatred  of  illbeino-  is 
indelibly  engraven  on  the  spirit  of  man  ;  and  in  thus 
creating  man,  God  has  stamped  upon  him  His  ov\^n 
image.     If,  then,  He  possesses   such  in  Himself — if 


144  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

He  lias  impressed  tlie  Scame  tliiug  ou  the  nature  of 
man — is  He  not  necessitated  to  u23liold  that  law  in 
His  intercourse  with  man  ? 

If,  then,  God  has  created  substances  with  qualities, 
and  agents  with  powers ;  if  to  these  agents  He  has 
assigned  laws  for  their  guidance  in  the  exercise  of 
their  j^ower  of  choice,  and  if  these  laws  arise  out  of 
the  very  nature  of  being  ;  and  if  many,  notwith- 
standing all  God's  care  and  attention,  abuse  His 
power  of  choice  in  the  formation  of  new  combinations 
— the  results  of  these  cannot  possibly  be  the  same 
as  if  he  had  exercised  his  reason  in  the  formation 
of  right  combinations.  If  God  has  formed  human 
bodies  with  sensations,  minds  wdth  faculties  of 
thought,  s^^irits  with  consciousness  of  inner  con- 
dition ;  if  He  has  conferred  on  man  the  power  of 
choice,  the  principle  of  free  responsible  nature  ;  and 
if  He  has  attached  the  reward  of  glory  and  bliss  to 
the  right  use  of  reason,  recognising  its  responsibility 
in  the  formation  of  proper  combinations ;  and  if  He 
has  affixed  the  penalty  of  conscious  shame,  degra- 
dation, and  woe,  to  the  neglect  of  reason  in  the 
formation  of  w^rong  combinations ;  and  if  He  has 
counselled  man  in  regard  to  the  one,  and  warned  him 
in  reference  to  the  other — then  surely  man  alone  is  to 
blame  for  the  degradation  and  suffering  of  humanity. 
If  God  has  attached  certain  sensations  to  certain 
states  of  physical  life,  agreeable  to  healthful  states 
and  painful  to  diseased  ;  if  to  correct  thinking  He 
has  united  satisfaction,  and  to  erroneous,  dissatis- 
fjxction  ;  if  He  has  joined  dignity  and  delight  with 


RETRIBUTION. 


M5 


goodness  of  spirit,  remorse  and  anguisli  witli  selfisli- 
ness  of  soul ;  aud  if,  in  so  doing,  He  lias  imaged  in 
man  His  own  perfect  wisdom  and  life,  no  one  surely 
will  say  that  He  lias  done  wrong  in  so  creating  man 
in  His  own  image.  If  God  lias  given  to  man  freedom 
of  nature,  choice  of  state,  option  of  subjectivity ;  if 
He  lias  made  the  consciousness  of  innocence  the 
elixir  of  the  soul,  and  the  consciousness  of  guilt  the 
anguish  of  the  spirit,  He  has  only  acted  in  accord- 
ance wdth  the  nature  of  thinos.  If  God  has  entrusted 
to  the  personality  of  man  a  harmonious  combination 
of  life,  to  be  preserved  by  him  in  the  develo^oment  of 
the  constitutional  relations  of  his  existence,  and  if 
man  yields  to  a  disturbing  influence,  and  if,  in  dis- 
regarding the  injunctions  given  to  him,  he  violates 
the  conditions  of  his  wellbeinfr  and  brinirs  about  a 
Avrong  combination  ;  then  the  harmonious  relations  of 
his  life  cannot  continue,  and  God  cannot  feel  towards 
the  transgressor  of  His  law  in  the  same  way  as  He 
feels  towards  him  who  observes  it. 

An  important  and  practical  inquiry  at  this  point 
naturally  presents  itself,  viz.,  Has  tlie  possibility  of 
derangement  been  unforeseen  by  God,  or,  if  not 
unforeseen,  yet  unprovided  for  by  Him  ?  or  is  it  in 
accordance  with  the  order  of  existence  He  has  estab- 
lished, and  which  He  is  determined  to  uphold  ?  We 
prefer  the  latter  alternative.  This  view,  no  doubt, 
represents  God  as  capable  of  wrath,  but  gives  no 
indication  of  revengefulness.  Every  man  knows  that 
anger  is  compatible  with  love,  and  wrath  with  mercy  ; 
indeed,  the  one  class  of  feeling  is  the  co-relation  of 


146  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

tlie  other.  God  created  man  so  as  that  he  should  be 
degraded  and  miserable  in  the  dislike  of  the  Divine, 
in  the  ignorance  of  the  true,  and  in  the  consciousness 
of  the  wrongfulness  of  his  life,  as  surely  as  He  created 
him  to  he  dignified  and  ha2')py  in  the  consciousness 
of  the  rectitude  of  his  being  and  life.  And  this  is 
an  eternal  and  immutable  condition  of  man's  exist- 
ence, as  immutable  and  eternal  as  the  body  of  God- 
head. We  are  anxious  to  direct  the  reader's  attention 
to  this  point,  and  to  rivet  his  thoughts  upon  the 
fact,  that  the  degradation  and  distress  is  as  intimately 
and  inseparably  connected  with  his  sinning,  as  is 
his  happiness  dependent  upon  his  obedience.  The 
connection  in  the  one  case  is  as  much  the  arrange- 
ment of  God  as  it  is  in  the  other ;  God  purposely 
created  man,  so  that  it  is  imjDossible  that  he  can 
be  other  than  dec-raded  and  distressed  in  his  dislike 
of  the  Divine.  But  how,  it  may  be  asked,  is  this 
view  of  the  case  consistent  with  the  goodness  of  God  ? 
AVe  are  under  no  obligation  to  answer  this  question  ; 
it  might  be  enough  to  reply,  that  what  has  been 
advanced  is  true,  whatever  may  be  the  inference 
drawn ;  but  we  may  go  further  and  say,  that  it 
is  quite  consistent  with  God's  goodness,  the  one  is 
in  accordance  with  His  will,  the  other  with  "  the 
good  pleasure  of  His  will."  The  obedience  of  man 
is  pleasing  to  God,  and  the  disobedience  of  man 
displeasing  to  Him,  God  manifests  Himself  directly 
and  immediately  in  the  harmony  of  man's  consciousness 
and  life  ;  He  reveals  Himself  indirectly  and  mediately 
in  the  discordance  of  man's   consciousness  and   life. 


RETRIBUTION.  147 

Man  is  not  created  to  sin  and  to  derange  tlie  order 
of  God's  combination, — to  do  so  is  not  the  law  of  his 
life.  It  is  only  in  the  abuse  of  his  freedom  that 
he  can  sin,  and  bring  about  discord  with  its  conse- 
quent sufferings,  and  when  he  does  so,  God  secures 
to  him  the  penalty  of  his  transgression.  They  greatly 
err  who  imagine  that  God  grieves  at,  and  mourns 
over,  the  conflict  of  the  sinner's  nature  and  suffering 
of  his  life ;  such  views  are  common,  but  they  display 
unsound  judgment  and  mistaken  conceptions  in  theo- 
logy ;  they  are  mere  sentiment.  God  grieves  over 
the  fact  that  man  cherishes  rebellious  dispositions, 
but  if  man  will  sin,  God  is  determined  that  while 
he  continues  in  his  sinful  state,  he  shall  bear  the 
effects  of  his  sin.  The  suffering  of  the  transgressor 
indirectly  proves  the  necessity  of  his  obedience,  the 
wisdom  of  the  laws,  and  the  benignity  of  the  Law- 
giver. If  there  was  no  necessity  in  the  wellbeing  of 
the  subject  of  law,  for  his  acting  in  accordance  with 
tlie  precept  and  spirit  of  the  law,  then  would  there 
be  neither  wisdom  nor  benignity  in  the  imposition  of 
the  law.  If  all  things  were  alike,  then  would  there 
be  no  possibility  of  acting  wrong,  and  no  need  of 
enjoining  this  and  guarding  against  that,  if  the  results 
of  all  actions  were  alike ;  then  could  there  be  no 
necessity  in  the  condition  and  circumstances  of  in- 
dividuals, that  they  should  attend  to  this,  or  refrain 
from  that  mode  of  life.  Just  in  the  measure  of  the 
necessity  of  the  law,  must  be  the  greatness  of  the 
ruin  it  guards  against,  and  the  dignity  which  it 
secures ;  and  just  in  the  measure  of  the  benignity 


148  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

and  wisdom  of  tlie  law,  is  the  necessity  of  obeying  it 
Punislimcnt  is  not  arbitrary,  but  the  inevitable  result 
of  disobedience.  Derangement  in  the  physical,  ra- 
tional, and  spiritual,  will,  and  ever  must,  secure  con- 
flict and  woe,  and  man  must  ever  realise  it  to  be  so. 
It  is  chiefly,  however,  in  the  spiritual  that  God 
displays  "  His  wrath,"  and  makes  "  His  power 
known."  The  manifestation  of  His  w^ratli  begins  in 
the  spiritual,  proceeds  from  it  into  the  rational  and 
physical ;  God's  wrath  is  muttered  in  the  physical, 
whispered  in  the  intellectual,  and  spoken  aloud  in  the 
spiritual  of  man. 

God  has  a  right  to  be  angry  with  the  transgressor 
for  the  iniquity  he  has  done.  He  has  so  constituted 
man,  that,  if  he  does  wdiat  is  wrong,  he  shall  realise  in 
the  inner  and  outer  of  his  being  the  consequences  of 
his  wrono^-doino;.  And  in  so  constituting]^  man,  God 
has  acted  in  accordance  with  the  nature  of  things ; 
and  in  awakening,  maintaining,  and  intensifying 
the  conviction  of  guilt  in  the  sinner,  God  makes  His 
power  known  to  him.  He  has  only  to  draw  near  to 
the  guilty  spirit,  in  the  revelation  of  His  immaculate 
purity,  to  make  its  anguish  intolerable  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  its  guilt ;  and  in  permitting  this  con- 
sciousness to  lull,  by  withdrawing  Himself  into  ''thick 
darkness  "  from  the  sinner's  view.  He  manifests  His 
longsuff"ering.  If  there  be  no  wrath  in  God,  w^hy  is 
it  that  He  has  made  the  consciousness  of  guilt  the 
most  dreadful  realisation  of  the  sinners  spirit.  Or,  if 
the  conception  of  guilt  be  a  delusion  of  the  mind,  as 
some  imagine,  how  is  it  that  this  falsehood   is  the 


RETRIBUTION. 


149 


most   tremendous   of  realities  in  the    experience   of 
human  consciousness.     God  does  not  suffer  the  body 
of  man  to  escape  from  the  languor  and  pain  of  disease, 
but  by  its  deliverance  from  disease ;    and  so  He  will 
not  suffer  the  spirit  of  man  to  escape  from  its  restless- 
ness,  conflict,   and   anguish,   but   by   its   deliverance 
from  sin.     Man  perceives  and  acts  upon  this  principle 
in  regard  to  his  body  ;    he  does  not  wonder  that  his 
body  suffers  in  disease,  nor  does  he  expect  relief  from 
the  pain  of  such  disease  but  in  the  restoration  of  the 
body  to  its  healthy  state.     But  man  is  slow  to  per- 
ceive the  analogy  in  spiritual  matters,  and  to  act  on 
this  principle  in  reference  to  the  distress  of  his  spirit- 
ual disease.     What,  then,  is  to  become  of  the  human 
spirit  in  the  conflict  of  nature.     Its  substance  cannot 
be  resolved  into  primary  elements,  for  its  essence  is 
simple   and  indivisible.      Spirits   cannot    moulder  as 
bodies  do  into   dust ;    the  energies  of  spirits  cannot 
become    exhausted,   for  they  inhere  in  no   decaying 
matter,  but  are  immortal   as  their  essence  is  inde- 
structible.    While,  therefore,  they  exist  in  a  state  of 
conflict,  their  rage  must  be  incessant,  their  effort  to 
escape  unavailing,    and   their    vexation   from    disajD- 
pointment  perpetual,  "  the  wicked  are  like  a  troubled 
sea  when  it  cannot  rest,  whose  waters  cast  ujd  mire 
and  dirt."     The  lover  of  wellbeing  contemplating  his 
own  evil-doing  in  the  presence  of  immaculate  purity, 
possessed  with  the  clear  conviction  that  the  evil  in 
which  he  is  involved  is  the  righteous  consequence  of 
his  own  deliberate  deeds,  conscious  of  the  inner  strife, 
and  recognising  the  outer  condemnation  as  the  inevit- 


I50  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

able  result  of  his  acting  in  opposition  to  tlie  conviction 
of  conscience  and  tlie  law  of  his  Creator,  and  seeing 
the  impossibility  of  either  escape  or  of  the  mitigation 
of  the  rage  of  passion,  seeing  no  end  of  the  conflict  of 
nature,  and  his  deep,  restless,  unsatisfied  craving, 
can  he  regard  his  condition  as  being  anything  else 
than  a  banishment  into  "  outer  darkness,"  an  im- 
prisonment in  the  burnings  of  "  eternal  fire,"  a  per- 
petual realisation  of  the  ceaseless  gnawings  of  the 
"  undying  worm  ?  " 


(i5i) 


CHAPTEPv   X. 


INABILITY, 


It  is  of  the  gravest  importance  for  us  to  know  as 
to  whether  or  not,  Science,  Philosophy,  Natural 
religion,  or  Rational  Christianity  can  point  out  a  way 
whereby  man  can  rescue  himself  from  the  state  of 
conflict  in  which  his  nature  is  involved.  Science  and 
Philosophy  have  already  accomplished  so  much  that 
many  look  upon  their  domain  as  being  practically 
limitless  and  all-embracing.  Can  they,  then,  show 
man  how  to  overcome  his  internal  difiiculties  ;  can 
they  dispel  his  spiritual  gloom ;  in  a  word,  can  they 
lead  his  soul  to  God  ? 

Many  have  assumed,  on  very  inadequate  grounds, 
that  man  needs  no  external  help  in  regard  to  the 
matter  referred  to ;  he  is  sufficient,  they  believe,  for 
all  things  appertaining  to  his  life  and  prospects, 
spiritual  and  physical.  But  they  are  by  no  means 
agreed  as  to  the  course  which  he  ouo^ht  to  follow. 
Man  is  recommended  to  follow  "  the  dictates  of 
reason."  To  contemplate  and  follow  the  example  of 
the  illustrious  of  former  times,  to  do  penance,  to 
repent  of  his  former  sins  and  give  himself  up  to  God. 
All  very  plausible ;  but  all  visionary  and  futile.     To 


152  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

teach  mau  in  tliis  manner  is  to  trifle  with  the  c;rent 
and  momentous  interests  of  his  spirit.  It  is  only 
to  taunt  the  inquiring  soul.  This  is  all  that  comes 
of  "the  wisdom  of  this  world." 

Philosophy  and  the  dictates  of  reason  can  do  very 
little  to  ease  the  burdened  spirit  of  the  transgressor  ; 
the  conscience-stricken  sinner  cannot  look  upon  his 
sins  as  the  prejudice  of  an  ignorant  and  unphilosophic 
mind,  which  the  study  of  philosophy  and  the 
enlightenment  of  Science  will  easily  dispel.  It  is 
in  vain  to  speak  of  prejudice  and  ignorance  to  the 
man  of  awakened  conscience,  and  to  tell  him  that 
such  convictions  are  but  the  visions  of  fancy,  the 
ghosts  of  a  heated  brain,  and  all  that  he  has  to  do  to 
drive  them  away  is,  in  the  light  of  reason  and 
philosophy,  to  look  them  full  in  the  face ;  he  knows 
full  well,  and  is  constrained  to  acknowledge,  that  his 
sense  of  guilt  is  the  most  tangible  verity  of  his  inner 
consciousness,  and  that  he  may  as  soon  command  the 
clouds  to  disperse,  as  by  the  voice  of  reason  and  the 
light  of  philosophy  bid  his  consciousness  of  guilt  fly 
away. 

And  what  can  the  contemplation  of  innocent  love- 
liness or  of  human  virtue  do  to  lift  the  burden  of 
guilt  from  oflf  the  burdened  conscience  of  the  sinner  ? 
Those  who  advocate  this  doctrine  would  do  well 
to  point  out  how  such  a  result  can  thus  be  realised ; 
but  this  they  cannot  do,  and  the  only  end  they  could 
secure  by  the  attempt,  would  be  to  show  to  them- 
selves its  impossibility.  The  murderer's  conscience, 
while  writhing  under  a  sense   of  his  crime,   is  not 


INABILITY.  153 

to  be  pacified  by  tlie  contemplation  of  self-denying 
heroism.  Ah  no  !  it  is  then  that  he  feels  his  guilt  to 
■  be  an  intolerable  burden,  and  his  spirit,  instead  of 
deriving  relief  from  the  contemplation  of  self-denying 
devotedness  to  human  wellbeing,  is  only  the  more 
burdened ;  he  feels  his  conviction  of  guilt  the  more 
deepened,  and  himself  hurried  with  the  greater 
rapidity  into  despair. 

The  law  of  conscience  is  an  impress  of  the  Divine, 
The  quickening  of  the  sense  of  blameworthiness 
through  means  of  the  contemplation  of  innocence 
and  self-denying  virtue  is  an  ultimate  fact  of  man's 
nature,  and  is  not  the  result  of  education  or  pre- 
judice. It  can  then  only  tantalise  the  conscience- 
stricken  sinner  the  more,  to  direct  him  for  peace 
of  conscience  to  the  heroic  deeds  and  self-denying 
devotedness  of  the  illustrious  of  earth.  To  treat 
him  after  this  fashion  is  only  to  mock  him  with 
delusion ;  to  j)oint  the  eye  of  the  sinner  for  relief 
while  smartino;  under  the  lash  of  conscience  to  the 
life  and  character  of  the  self-denying  One  who, 
sooner  than  deviate  in  the  least  from  truth  and 
rectitude,  voluntarily  laid  down  His  life,  is  not  only 
to  tantalise  him,  but  to  become  chargeable  with 
the  absurdity  of  attem^^ting  to  accomplish  an  end  by 
means  calculated  only  to  secure  the  very  opposite 
result;  nay,  to  ignore  and  pervert  the  great  end  of 
Emmanuel's  death  in  the  very  act  of  attempting  to 
expound  His  doctrine.  To  endeavour  to  promote 
peace  in  the  human  heart  by  such  an  instrumentality, 
is  to  mistake   both   the   nature  and   cure   of  man's 


154  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

disease.  Man's  deepest  convictions  are  ever  true  to 
the  priucij^lcs  of  his  nature ;  and,  while  writhing 
under  a  sense  of  guilt,  to  be  told  to  calm  his 
conscience  and  purify  his  life  Ly  gazing  on  the 
martyr's  death  is  only  to  mock  him  ;  he  feels  that 
this  is  only  asking  him  to  deepen  the  anguish  of  his 
spirit  instead  of  removing  the  v/retchedness  of  his 
soul.  Such  doctrines  may  meet  the  wants  of  a 
fancied  sinfulness,  but  not  the  deep  necessities  of  a 
realised  guilt.  In  the  name,  then,  both  of  reason  and 
philosophy  we  say,  away  with  this  trifling  with  the 
deepest  interests  both  of  man  and  God. 

Such  conceptions  are  only  the  dreams  of  fevered 
brain,  the  ebulitions  of  bewildering  speculation.  To 
talk  to  the  sinner  in  such  a  style,  is  only  to  pervert  the 
dictates  of  reason  and  the  teachings  of  philosophy. 
The  contemplation  of  immaculate  purity  and  spotless 
innocence,  can  only  show  to  the  sinner  in  the  clearest 
lio-ht  the  aiTOTavations  of  his  ouilt,  and  thus  intensify 
his  anguish.  Direct  the  eye  of  the  awakened  sinner 
to  the  martyr-death  of  Incarnate  Divinity,  and  the 
only  effect  will  be  to  produce  an  increase  of  his  misery  ; 
the  conscience  is  ever  ready  to  exclaim,  Whence  this 
law  of  my  being  that  condemns  me  to  the  face  ?  and 
can  any  satisfactory  reply  be  given  to  him,  but  that 
this  awakening  of  conscious  guilt  is  the  operation  of 
a  law  woven  into  the  constitution  of  his  being  by  the 
Author  of  his  existence,  and  that  it  is  the  echo  of  the 
voice  Divine.  And  is  not  the  seuse  of  guilt  clear 
evidence  to  the  sinner  that  he  has  incurred  the  dis- 
pleasure of  God  ?  and    if  so,  will  the  contemplation. 


INABILITY.  155 

of  that  wliich  arouses  in  the  inner  of  man's  being  a 
sense  of  God's  displeasure  remove  tlie  conviction 
of  that  displeasure  from  his  mind  ?  Can  the  sinner, 
if  he  reasons  at  all,  reason  otherwise  than  thus — If  my 
heart  condemn  me,  must  not  God,  who  is  holier  than 
my  heart,  condemn  me  still  more  ?  If  the  sinner's 
transgression  has  disturbed  the  harmony  of  his  life, 
and  set  in  operation  the  reactionary  laws  of  his 
nature,  and  awakened  such  feelings  in  his  breast,  the 
natural  conclusion  is  that  it  has  also  awakened  dis- 
pleasure in  God.  Yes,  the  sinner  does  and  must 
believe  in  the  displeasure  of  God  against  sin  ;  the 
sacrifices,  penances,  and  supplications  of  heathendom 
are  a  witness  of  man's  belief  in  this  ;  and  the  anxious 
endeavour  of  the  awakened  sinner  is  not  to  contem- 
plate immaculate  purity,  but  to  ascertain  how  God's 
anger  can  be  appeased,  how  the  dark  cloud  which 
envelops  the  Divine  countenance  can  be  removed, 
for  he  feels,  and  that  deeply,  that  the  contemplation  of 
the  heroic  lives  and  the  martyr-deaths  of  the  excellent 
of  the  earth,  instead  of  removing  the  consciousness  of 
guilt,  only  arrows  and  deepens  that  conviction  the  more. 
Again,  penance  can  do  little  for  the  transgressor  of 
God's  law  ;  it  cannot  awaken  in  him  right  conceptions 
of  the  Divine,  nor  draw  down  the  spirit  of  God  to 
raise  the  penitent  into  fellowship  with  his  Father 
in  heaven.  Fasting,  lacerations,  &c.,  can  never  reveal 
God  in  love  to  man,  nor  afi"ord  him  right  conceptions 
of  the  mercy  of  Heaven,  nor  warm  him  with  the  love 
of  the  Divine.  The  infliction  of  sufi"ering  on  the 
body    cannot    possibly    awaken    love    in    the    heart 


156  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

towards  Ilim  wlio  is  conceived  as  demanding  it,  tlie 
jDresentation  to  heaven  of  the  most  endeared  victims 
of  earth  cannot  afford  a  sight  gratifying  to  the  God 
of  compassion,  nor  meet  the  yearnings  of  the  Father's 
heart.  Loud  suppHcations  to  heaven,  deep-heaved 
sighs  from  the  agonised  spirit  of  man,  cannot  prevail 
with  God  to  become  what  the  blinded  heathen  desires 
Him  to  be ;  no,  neither  penance  nor  human  sacrifice 
nor  ''much  speaking,"  can  present  man  in  more 
acceptable  form  to  God,  nor  reveal  God  in  lovelier 
grace  to  man.  The  breach  between  God  and  man 
cannot  thus  be  healed,  such  a  course  can  only  widen 
the  gulf  the  more  and  more,  and  make  God  more 
tedious  in  the  conception  of  man,  and  man  more 
miserable  in  his  endeavours  to  serve  God.  The  his- 
tory of  heathenism  is  the  corroboration  of  this  truth  ; 
such  attempts  have  only  led  man  to  "change  the 
truth  of  God  into  a  lie,  and  worship  and  serve  the 
creature  more  than  the  Creator."  Man,  under  heath- 
enism, has  sadly  degenerated  in  his  conception  of 
God,  and  in  his  mode  of  worshipping  Him. 

Self-repentance,  again,  can  accomplish  little  in  the 
removal  of  the  consciousness  of  guilt  from  the  sinner  ; 
true  repentance  is  not  merely,  nor  chiefly,  a  change 
of  the  outer.  A  man  may  pass  from  all  the  external 
vices  to  all  the  outer  virtues  of  the  world,  and  be 
taken  in  society  for  a  reformed  man,  and  not  be  the 
subject  of  that  repentance  "  not  to  be  rejDented  of," 
he  may  onljr  be  like  the  man  out  of  whom  went  the 
"unclean  sj^irits,"  "seeking  rest  and  finding  none/' 
and   his  last  state  in  God's  siuht  "worse   than   his 


INABILITY.  157 

first."    An  individual  may  pass  from   one   religious 
belief  to  another,  till  he  go  the  round  of  all  the  creeds 
of  the  different  sects  of  earth,  and  instead  of  being 
nearer  the  truth,  he  may  only  be  further  from  it,  like 
the  man  to  whom  our  Lord  refers  when,  addressing 
the  Pharisees,  He  says,  "  Ye  compass  sea  and  land  to 
make  one  proselyte,  and  when  he  is  made  you  make 
him  twofold  more  the   child   of  hell."     Again,    true 
repentance  is  not  merely  or  chiefly  sorrow  for  sin.     A 
man  may  see  his  sin  to  be  so  heinous  that  he  weeps 
bitter  tears  of  sorrow  for  his  transgression,  and  be  no 
better  than  Judas  when  he  saw  that  his  Master  was 
condemned,  "  repented  himself  and  brought  again  the 
thirty  pieces  of  silver  to  the  chief  priests  and  elders, 
saying,  I  have  sinned  in  that  I  have  betrayed  innocent 
blood.      And    he    cast   down   the   thirty   pieces    of 
silver  in  the  temple,  and  departed,   and  went  and 
hanged  himself."     Eepentance,  which  is  profitable  to 
man  and  acceptable  to  God,  denotes  an  entire  change 
of  the  inner  life  of  man  through  the  quickening  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  leading  the  sinner  to  the  belief  of  ''  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus."     In  this  change  the  disposi- 
tion, the  thoughts,  the  desires,  and  the  will  of  man, 
are  renewed,  i.e.,  reconciled  to  God  and  to  the  position 
and  end  of  man's  existence.     By  repentance,  the  sym- 
pathies of  the  soul  of  man  are  raised  to  God,  and  the 
movements  of  his  will  into  harmony  with  the  will  of 
God.      Eepentance   "  not    to   be   repented  of,"  is   a 
change  from  the  love  of  self  to  the  love  of  God;   it  is  a 
change  begun  by  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  inner  depths 
of  the  spirit  of  man,  a  change  regulated  by  the  AYord 


158  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

of  God  and  consummated  in  a  realised  likeness  to 
Jesus.  This  change  in  some  is  accompanied  with 
sorrow  for  sin,  and  involves  a  jmssing  from  error  to 
truth,  from  ungodliness  to  holiness,  but  is  in  no  sense 
a  self-repentance.  The  subjects  of  this  change  are 
not  the  self-rio;hteous,  but  sinners.  Self-rioliteous- 
ness  is  the  greatest  hindrance  in  man  to  his  under- 
iroinsr  this  chanoe  :  as  Ions:  as  a  man  clings  to  a  shred 
of  self-righteousness  in  any  form  he  cannot  truly- 
repent,  hence  the  declaration  of  Jesus,  "I  am  not 
come  to  call  the  righteous  but  sinners  to  repentance." 
Repentance  involves  at  least  three  things — the  seeing 
transgression  to  be  disobedience  of  the  Divine  law 
and  ruin  to  the  transo;ressor ;  the  beinof  convinced 
that  God  is  just  in  maintaining  the  powers  of  the 
sinner's  nature  in  their  condition  of  conflict;  and  sor- 
rowing on  account  of  the  disposition  that  inclined  to 
the  act,  as  well  as  over  the  consequences  of  the  act. 
Repentance  implies  the  seeing  that  God,  in  requiring 
implicit  obedience,  is  righteous,  and  that  He  requires 
only  what  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  Spiritual  life, 
and  that  God,  while  maintaining  in  the  transgressor  a 
painful  sense  of  his  wrong-doing,  is  holy  and  true. 
Now,  can  the  sinner  of  himself  thus  repent  ?  On  the 
contrary,  he  is  ever  striving  to  justify  himself  and  to 
merit  the  favour  of  God,  and  by  his  constant  efforts 
to  vindicate  his  doings  he  is  ever  trying  to  prevail 
upon  God  to  change  the  manifestations  which  He  has 
given  of  Himself. 

The  sinner  will  admit  the  fact  of  his  transgression, 
for  his    conscience  tells  him   of  it,  but  he  will  not 


INABILITY.  159 

acknowledfre  the  blameworthiness  of  his  deeds :  he  will 
confess  to  the  violation  of  the  precept,  but  he  will 
not  consent  to  the  riohteousness  of  his  endurance  of 
the  penalty  of  the  law.  He  endeavours  to  persuade 
himself  that  he  could  not  help  acting  as  he  has  done, 
and  seeks  to  shelter  himself  under  the  idea  that  the 
circumstances  under  which  he  was  placed  led  to  the 
act,  and  that  God,  who  placed  him  in  these  circum- 
stances, is  more  responsible  than  he  is  for  the  conse- 
quences of  his  deeds.  Temptation  was  strong,  desire 
urofent;  if  he  has  done  wrono-  he  should  not  have  been 
created  with  such  inclinations,  and  exposed  to  such 
temptations  ;  it  is,  therefore,  not  himself,  but  the  being  . 
who  placed  him  in  such  a  position  that  is  chargeable 
with  the  responsibilities  of  his  doings.  He  attempts 
to  reason  with  himself.  Why  is  human  knowledge  so 
limited  ?  Why  is  not  man  supplied  with  as  much  light 
as  would  make  it  impossible  for  him  to  do  wrong  ? 
Why  is  man  made  liable  to  sin,  and  not  placed  beyond 
the  possibility  of  transgression  ?  AVhy  is  he  exposed 
to  temptations  and  not  raised  above  solicitations  to 
do  evil  ?  Such  is  the  light  in  vhich  the  transgressor 
seeks  to  view  his  conduct,  and  the  manner  in  which 
he  strives  to  rid  himself  of  the  law  and  authority  of 
God.  He  attempts  to  pervert  the  first  principles  of 
right  and  wrong,  the  deep  convictions  of  his  own 
inner  being;  "the  carnal  mind  is  not  subject  to  the 
law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  be,"  hence  it  must 
have  all  things  to  bend  to  its  capricious  will,  to  fit  in 
and  square  with  its  notions.  It  will  have  no  law  but 
its  own  caprice,  no  rule  but  its  own  inclination,  no 


i6o  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

autliority  but  its  own  will.  If  cany  thing  stands  in  the 
of  way  its  doing  whatever  it  pleases  with  impunity, 
it  will  instantly  complain  of  injury  and  seek  to  resent 
its  imagined  wrong.  The  "  carnal  mind  "  strives  to 
set  itself  in  the  very  apex  of  being  to  ascend  the 
highest  summit  of  existence,  to  grasp  in  its  Almighty 
fiat  eternal  and  immutable  principle,  reign  over  all  law 
and  authority,  make  a  god  of  self,  worship  and  serve 
self  as  the  end  of  its  existence.  This  is  the  terminus 
ad  quern  of  guilty  man.  Is  this,  then,  the  spirit  that 
will  repent  of  itself  ? 

But  although  the  "  carnal  mind "  will  not  repent 
and  return  to  God,  it  cannot  rest  in  its  spirit  of 
rebellion.  Man's  constitution  forbids  this ;  man  in 
every  transgression  he  commits  is  furnished  with  suf- 
ficient liirht  to  enable  him  to  avoid  fallinof  into  the 
transgression ;  he  cannot  sin  without  acting  against 
sufficient  light — this  is  involved  in  the  very  nature  of 
transgression.  It  is  not  an  overpowering  flood,  but  a 
sufficiency  of  light  that  involves  responsibility.  If 
man's  deepest  and  most  indestructible  j)i'inciple  of 
existence  be  the  love. of  wellbeing,  and  if  sin  be  the 
doing  what  Ave  doubt  to  be  right  and  what  we  fear 
to  be  wrong,  if  it  be  the  acting  from  any  other  prin- 
ciple than  that  of  implicit  obedience  to  the  Divine 
will,  and  desire  for  any  other  end  than  the  glory  of 
Qod,  then  the  transgressor  acts  against  sufficient 
light  in  every  sin  which  he  commits.  He  acts  against 
the  imperative  j^rinciple  of  his  own  life,  the  highest 
obligation  of  his  own  constitution,  the  true  condition 
of  his  own  wellbeing;    he  acts  in  the  presence  of  his 


INABILITY,  i6i 

doubt,  and  in  the  face  of  his  fear,  and  in  the  conscious- 
ness that  he  is  not  acting  on  the  principle  of  imphcit 
obedience  to  the  will  of  God.  And  is  not  his  doubt, 
his  fear,  his  consciousness,  that  he  is  not  acting  on 
the  principle  of  implicit  obedience,  sufficient  liglit  to 
deter  him  from  actino^  ?  Would  he  have  omniscience 
given  to  him  in  every  moment  of  temiptation,  omni- 
potence to  hold  him  back  from  transgression  ?  If 
"whatever  be  not  of  faith  is  sin,"  surely  he  sins  in 
acting  in  opposition  to  his  doubt,  and  in  the  face  of 
his  fear,  or  whenever  he  acts  without  the  conscious- 
ness of  acting  in  implicit  obedience  to  the  will  of  God. 
No  amount  of  temptation  can  make  it  right  in  man, 
or  can  justify  him  in  doing  what  he  is  in  doubt  about. 
Nor  can  any  force  of  temptation  shelter  him  from  the 
consequences  of  acting  in  opposition  to  the  first  prin- 
ciples of  his  nature.  Man  may  sin  against  God,  and 
by  so  doing  disturb  the  principles  and  relations  of 
his  life  ;  but  he  cannot  alter  his  constitution,  nor 
destroy  the  conditions  of  his  wellbeing.  He  has  been 
created  for  fellowshi])  with  his  Father,  and  formed  for 
the  reception  and  j)reservation  of  the  image  Divine ; 
he  has  been  brought  into  existence  for  endless  joy 
and  delight  in  the  study  of  truth ;  he  has  been 
endowed  with  the  noblest  powers  for  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  deep  things  of  God ;  he  has  been  gifted 
with  an  indestructible  instinct  of  his  lofty  destiny  : 
but  by  sinning  he  has  incurred  guilt,  j^laced  himself 
in  opposition  to  the  high  conditions  of  his  wellbeing, 
and  stumbled  on  the  threshold  of  his  noble  career. 
Still  the  principles  of  his  nature  are  true  to  them- 


1 62  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

selves.  The  guilty  cannot  stifle  the  deep  cravings  of 
his  immortal  spirit  after  God,  neither  can  he  rid 
himself  of  the  desire  after  some  sort  of  a  god.  Even 
sinful  man  feels  that  he  must  have  a  ood  to  hold 
fellowship  with,  but  the  "carnal  mind,"  the  selfish 
heart  of  man,  will  not  have  a  holy  God  and  an 
absolute  standard  of  duty.  Such  does  not  suit  the 
"carnal  mind,"  hence  a  compromise  must  be  at- 
tempted, and  thus  idolatry  in  one  form  or  another 
has  universally  prevailed  among  the  nations.  The 
"carnal  mind"  must  have  a  god  to  its  ow^n  liking, 
truth  of  its  own  devising,  an  altar  of  its  own  erection, 
victims  of  its  own  selecting,  a  heaven  of  its  own 
framing,  a  glory  of  its  own  creating.  And  is  this 
the  spirit  that  will  repent  ? 

The  fact  that  the  first  deepest  principles  of  man's 
nature  is  the  love  of  wellbeing,  taken  in  connection 
with  the  fact  of  human  transgression,  sufficiently 
explains  the  present  condition  of  mankind.  The 
controversy  which  the  "  carnal  mind "  wages  with 
the  human  conscience  and  God  is  not  whether  there 
be  a  God  and  an  absolute  right.  A  being  created 
with  a  deep  receptivity  for  the  indw^elling  of  the 
Divine,  and  an  irradicable  instinct  for  fellowship  with 
God,  can  never  rest  in  a  disbelief  of  the  Divine  exist- 
ence. Atheism  is  not  natural  to  man,  and  never  can 
be  popular  ;  mankind  in  all  ages  have  rejected  it,  and 
never  will  embrace  it  as  the  popular  belief.  A  being 
whose  first,  deepest,  and  most  indestructible  principle 
is  the  love  of  wellbeing,  cannot  repose  in  the  disbelief 
of  an    absolute   right,    an   imperative    obligation    of 


INABILITY.  163 

iiature,  an  infallible  rule  of  life.  Man  in  all  ages  has 
earnestly  longed  for  and  diligently  sought  after  a 
"  chief  2food,"  but  he  has  souo;ht  for  it  in  vain  because 
he  has  not  grasped  it  "  by  faith/'  but  sought  after  it 
of  self. 

Can,  then,  the  transgressor  repent  of  himself  and 
turn  to  God  ?  Look  at  the  circumstances  in  which 
lie  has  placed  himself,  and  see  if  it  be  possible.  Can 
the  lover  of  wellbeiug  gaze  with  complacency  on  the 
fact  that  he  has  transe^ressed  the  hig^li  conditions  of 
his  wellbeino;  %  Can  he  rest  with  satisfaction  in  the 
realisation  of  his  own  inner  conflict  ?  Can  he  delio^ht 
in  God  imputing  to  him  his  sins  ?  In  the  nature  of 
things  it  is  impossible  for  the  sinner  in  and  from 
himself  to  repent  of  his  sin,  and  in  the  absence  of  a 
readjusting  power  to  turn  to  God  ;  his  doing  such 
would  involve  his  acting  in  direct  opposition  to  the 
cherished  sentiments  and  the  reigning  effort  of  his 
rebel  spirit.  Is  it  possible,  we  would  ask,  for  a 
creature  whose  deej)est  principle  of  nature  is  the  love 
of  wellbeing,  gladly  to  rest  in  the  conviction  that  he 
has  deliberately  acted  in  opposition  to  the  first  prin- 
ciple of  his  nature  ?  is  it  possible  for  him  intently  to 
gaze  with  complacency  on  his  inner  strife,  to  listen 
with  composure  to  the  ever  and  anon  upbraiding 
voice  of  conscience,  to  view  with  cordiality  the  op- 
position of  desire  to  conscience,  of  will  to  judgment, 
of  passion  to  reason  ?  is  it  possible  for  him  to  delight 
in  God's  ever  upholding  conscience  to  accuse  him  and 
ever  maintaining  his  powers  of  nature  to  act  in  conflict 
within  him,  ever  and  anon  refusing  to  allow  him  to 


1 64  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SEIRITUAL  LIFE. 

shelter  liimself  from  liis  distress  under  any  or  all  his 
subterfuQ-es  of  lies  ?    Can  the  rebel  sinner  live  in  the 
belief  that  God  is  righteous  in  securing  his  degrada- 
tion, just  in  shutting  him  up  to  listen  to  the  accusa- 
tions of  his  conscience,  good  in  causing  him  to  realise 
the  conflict  he  has  involved  himself  in  by  sin  ?     No  ; 
the  beingr  that  is  created  with  the  love  of  wellbeing 
as  his  deepest  principle  of  life  cannot  look  with  com- 
placency on  the  ftict  of  his  having  acted  deliberately 
in  opposition  to  the  deepest  interests  of  his  soul  and 
the  clear  indications  of  the  will  of  his  God.     The  con- 
stituted lover  of  wellbeing  cannot  look  his  guilt  full 
in  the  face,  and  fraze  on  his  own  act  of  self-destruction 
with   complacency.      The   diseased  eye  of  the  spirit 
cannot  admit  the  light  of  truth,  it  will  only  receive 
refractions   of   it,    and  only  these  as   tinged  by  the 
medium  of  its   own  prejudice.     The  wounded  spirit 
dreads  the  operations -of  its  ow^i  condemning  power 
as  the  most  dreadful  of  all  evils,  and  will  prefer  dark- 
ness  a  thousand   times   to   the   pure  light   of  truth. 
"Every  one  that  doeth  evil  hatetli  the  light,  and  will 
not  come  to  the  light,  lest  his  deeds  should  be  re- 
proved."    The  sinner   will  rather  pervert  his  judg- 
ments   on  the  great  essentials  of  truth,  of  right,  and 
wrong,  shut  himself  in  the  mist  of  intellectual  gloom, 
warp  his  mind  with  the  maze  of  speculation,  error,  and 
''  call  evil  good,  and  good  evil ;  "  and  because  "he  likes 
not  to  retain  God  in  his  knowledge,  God  gives  him 
over  to  a  reprobate  mind."     Man  might  know  that  he 
cannot  attempt  to  change   the  principle  of  his  con- 
stitution witliout  involving  himself  in  darkness  and 


INABILITY.  zC5 

niiii,  but  tliis  is  tlie  triitli  the  sinner  will  not  learn. 
This  is  the  conviction  in  Avhich  above  all  others  he 
cannot  dwell.  Eternal  ruin  is  so  awful  a  thing  to  look 
full  in  the  face,  that  sooner  than  do  so,  man  will 
darken  the  organ  of  his  inner  vision,  pervert  his 
judgments  on  the  first  principles  of  morality  and 
religion,  and  set  the  Author  of  his  being  at  defiance. 
lie  will  cry  to  the  mountains  and  hills  to  fall  upon 
him  and  cover  him  from  the  face  of  his  criminator ;  he 
will  at  all  hazards  labour  to  escape  from  the  conviction 
of  guilt ;  and  if  he  can  in  no  other  way,  he  will  place 
himself  in  confirmed  rebellion  against  God,  charge  the 
Almighty  to  His  face  of  being  the  true  Author  of 
man's  heinous  guilt  and  the  dreadful  consequences  of 
his  sin — tremendous  but  unavoidable  effect  of  sin  when 
carried  to  its  legitimate  result.  Can,  then,  man 
repent  of  himself  ?  It  is  awful  folly  in  him  to  make 
tlie  attempt,  and  dire  infiituation  in  others  to  urge 
him  to  make  the  effort. 

If,  then,  sinful  man  cannot  of  himself  repent  and 
Itring  back  God  into  his  soul,  can  he  in  creation  dis- 
cover a  power  that  will  enable  him  to  do  so  ?  This 
is  equally  impossible  to  man,  for  a  restorative  medium 
could  never  have  been  deposited  in  nature.  The  very 
nature  of  morality  and  religion  forbid  the  possibility 
of  any  such  deposit.  If  there  could  have  been  such 
in  the  finite,  its  very  existence  would  have  sapped 
the  foundations  of  morality  and  religion.  However 
deep  it  might  have  been  deposited  in  the  secrets  of 
nature,  man,  in  the  onward  progress  of  his  search- 
in  gs  in  his  study  of  science   and   philosophy,  would 


1 66  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LITE. 

sooner  or  later  have  come  upon  it,  and  then  wliat 
would  have  been  tlie  result?  The  "carnal  niind" 
would  have  had  the  knowledge  of  a  power  which 
would  have  enabled  the  transgressor  to  readjust  the 
disorders  of  his  transgression,  and  possessing  the 
knowledge  of  such  a  power,  the  sinner  would  have 
gone  on  in  his  transgressions,  and  in  the  readjusting 
of  the  disturbances  of  his  sins,  in  an  endless  series. 
And  thus  the  transe^ressor  would  have  become  inde- 
pendent  of  God,  and  superior  to  all  authority  and 
law — the  very  condition  of  existence  the  "  carnal 
mind  "  so  eagerly  covets,  and  so  earnestly  strives  to 
reach.  The  possession  of  such  a  power  would  have 
enabled  the  sinner  to  repair  the  evils  of  his  transgres- 
sion as  soon  as  they  were  felt ;  nay,  the  existence  of 
such  a  jDower  in  nature  would  have  rendered  trans- 
gression an  impossibility,  for  if  on  the  immediate 
discovery  of  the  evils  of  transgression  the  sinner 
could  at  once  repair  that  evil,  where  would  have  been 
the  transgression  ?  And  would  not  the  existence  of 
such  a  power  in  the  finite  have  rendered  the  existence 
of  religion  an  impossibility  ?  It  would  have  rendered 
the  sinner  independent  of  God  ;  it  would  have  with- 
drawn him  from  God,  conhrmed  him  in  idolatry,  and 
created  a  gulf  between  him  and  God,  and  thus  for 
ever  separate  him  from  his  Father.  Could,  then, 
such  a  power  have  been  deposited  in  the  finite  by 
God  ?  does  not  the  very  idea  of  such  a  power  being 
found  in  creation,  and  the  search  after  it  in  nature, 
display  ignorance  of  the  first  principles  of  religion,  and 
afford  clear  evidence  of  a  heart  estranged  from  God  ? 


INABILITY.  167 

IIow  nobly  ignoLle  is  the  pliilosopliic  search  after 
such  a  power  in  nature,  and  what  are  the  efforts  of 
rationalism  but  to  discover  such  a  power  ?  If  a 
remedy  for  sin  exists  anywhere,  it  must  exist  in  God, 
and  only  in  God. 

Supposing  such  a  power  to  exist  in  God,  can  man 
by  speculation  discover  it  as  lying  deep  in  the  essence 
of  this  being,  or  in  the  undisclosed  movements  of  this 
life  ?  Man  does  by  speculation  endeavour  to  search 
out  the  "deep  things  of  God,"  but  what  can  specu- 
lation do  in  the  discovery  of  the  mysteries  of  God- 
head ?  AA^hat  can  sj)eculation  do  in  the  revelation  of 
the  true,  in  the  manifestation  of  the  purpose  kept  in 
the  depths  of  God  secret  from  "  ages  and  genera- 
tions "  %  AVhat  are  human,  speculations  on  the  deep 
things  of  God  but  the  reveries  of  darkened,  prejudiced 
minds,  the  welling  up  of  the  fanciful  conceptions  of 
troubled  spirits,  evolutions  of  the  tangled  threads  of 
bewildered  brains  ?  And  can  such  disclose  the  things 
kept  secret  by  God,  and  sound  the  inner  depths  of  the 
Eternal  Council,  penetrate  the  mysteries,  and  reveal 
the  unrevealed  purpose  of  Godhead  ?  The  thing  is 
not  only  impossible  in  regard  to  the  impenetrable  of 
the  Absolute,  but  also  in  regard  to  the  aim  of  specu- 
lation itself;  for  what  is  speculation  at  best  but 
guessing,  the  formation  of  hypothesis  on  a  mere 
surmise  ?  In  the  very  nature  of  speculation  after 
such  a  power  there  can  be  no  search,  no  meek 
inquiry  by  the  troubled  spirit,,  but  only  the  new 
turnings  up  of  the  inner  kaleidoscope  of  disturbed 
mind,  the  ever-fresh  but   ever-fanciful   combinations 


1 68  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

of  ideas  existing  in  tlie  human — a  vain  attempt  of 
the  disordered  finite  subjective  to  produce  from  its 
own  confusion  a  liiolier  order  of  existence  than  is  to 
be  found  in  its  own  objective.  AVhat  else  can  philo- 
sophic speculation  be  in  the  deep  things  of  God  ? 
Man  in  and  from  himself  can  produce  no  original 
idea ;  he  cannot  call  into  existence  things  that  are 
not,  nor  can  he  descend  into  the  inner  depths  of  the 
Eternal  Mind,  and  drag  thence  the  arcana  of  Divine 
Council.  In  his  speculations  man  can  only  combine 
in  endless  variety  the  ideas  already  existing  within 
his  scope.  He  can  create,  discover,  disclose  nothing 
of  the  uncreated.  And  what  he  in  fancy  combines 
may  be  an  image  the  very  opposite  of  wliat  he 
imagines  it  to  represent.  How  absurd,  fallacious, 
and  fatal  are  all  human  speculations  regarding  the 
mysteries  of  religion  and  the  secrets  of  Godhead  ! 

If  man  cannot  by  speculation  discover  the  "  deep 
things  of  God,"  can  he  by  reason  attain  to  a  know- 
ledge of  them  ?  Man  has  indeed  gone  to  nature  with 
the  earnest  and  persevering  efforts  of  reason,  en- 
treating her  to  enable  him  by  the  aid  of  her  ladder, 
not  only  to  ascend  to  God,  but  also  to  descend  into 
the  inner  depths  of  Godhead  and  drag  thence  the 
secrets  of  Divine  Council,  but  in  this  man  has  mis- 
taken the  true  function  of  reason.  Nature,  even  in 
her  original  perfection,  could  not  have  afforded  such 
means  and  facilities,  much  less  in  her  disordered  and 
conflicting  condition.  Such  discovery  is  not  possible 
even  to  the  unfallen  intelligence  of  heaven,  much 
less  to   fallen  man,  were   he  even   surrounded  bv  a 


INABILITY.  169 

perfect  state  of  nature.      Nature,  even  in  her  original 
perfection,   could   not  have  revealed  the  undisclosed 
purpose  of  God — God  in  Himself — for  then  she  must 
have  been  God.    The  want  of  this  perception  underlies 
the  speculative  cogitations  of  man  on  the  deep  things 
of  God,  hence  the  pantheism  which  is  so  manifest  in 
so   many  philosophic   theories  of  the  age.       In  this 
effort  man  perceives  not  that  nature  is  no  longer  the 
exact  objective  of  the   infinite  subjective.      He  sees 
not  that  she  is  no  longer  the  unmutilated  manuscript 
of  Divine  revelation  she  once  was,  the  carefully-pre- 
served parchment  of  that  word  which  was  written  by 
the  finger  of  God  in  the  creation  of  all  things — not 
this,  but  only  the  broken  tablets,  interpolated  codices, 
a  volume  of  various  readings.      Nor  is  this  all.      Man 
not  only  fails  to  perceive  that  his  world  within  and 
without  is  no  lono;er  what  it  once  was  :  he  also  fails  to 
perceive  that  his  spiritual  eye,  being  diseased,  cannot 
correctly  read   even  this   distorted   revelation    as   it 
is.      He  sees  not  that  the  diseased   eye  of  the  spirit 
cannot  steadily  contemplate  the   fallen  conditions  of 
his  life,  but   shuts    itself   against  the   light  as  soon 
as  it  begins  to  pain  the  unhealthy  organ.      But  were 
even   nature    complete   and  entire,   and   could  it   be 
read  by  a  clear  and  penetrating  eye,  it  could  not  even 
then  disclose    to    man    "the    deep   things    of   God." 
Eeason  no  more  than  speculation  can  create  original 
ideas,  nor  disclose  to  itself  the  perfections  or  designs 
of  God  which   He   has  not   revealed.      The  jDrovince 
of  reason  is  not  to  discover  what   God  keeps  within 
Himself,   but   meekly    and    teachably   to    inquire    of 


lyo  THE  SCIEi\CE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

nature  wliat  it  has  had  aiven  to  it  to  disclose.  Fallen 
man  perceives  not  that  in  his  search  after  God,  and  of 
a  way  of  being  just  with  Him,  he  is  acting  under  the 
delusions  of  the  ''carnal  mind,"  which  is  not  and 
cannot  be  receptive  of  the  pure  spiritual,  and  subject 
to  the  law  of  God.  "  The  natural  man  receiveth  not 
the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God  :  for  they  are  foolish- 
ness unto  him ;  neither  can  he  know  them,  because 
they  are  spiritually  discerned."  Were  man  perfect, 
the  intuitional  consciousness  would  perceive  the 
Divine  that  is  in  himself,  but  not  what  of  God  is 
above  or  beyond  him  ;  and  were  the  God-conscious 
faculty  of  his  spirit  alive,  it  would  ever  perceive  the 
manifestation  of  God's  indwelling  presence,  but  even 
then  it  could  not  discover  what  He  kept  to  Himself. 
Neither  reason  nor  speculation  can  discover  "  the 
secret  things"  of  God.  Speculation  can  reveal  to 
man  the  conceptions  of  his  own  fancy,  but  nothing- 
more.  Man  cannot  create  God  in  idea  any  more 
than  in  substance.  Strive  as  he  may,  man  cannot  of 
himself  conceive  God.  Man  has  not  the  Absolute 
within  him,  but  only  a  capacity  for  the  indwelling 
of  God,  and  therefore  cannot  produce  God  from  the 
womb  of  his  conception.  He  can  only  realise  fellow- 
ship with  God  through  means  of  His  indwelling 
manifestations.  Reason  cannot  perceive  God  in  His 
works ;  she  can  only  trace  indications  of  the  Al- 
mighty's footprints  in  creation ;  she  can  draw  her 
inferences  from  His  works,  but  she  cannot  reveal 
God  in  Himself  to  the  heart  of  man.  Man  cannot 
by  speculation  arrive  at  correct  conceptions  of  any- 


INABILITY.  171 

tliinff.  In  order  to  knowledoe  lie  must  observe 
correctly  and  deduce  reasonably.  He  must  read  the 
facts  of  external  nature  and  of  internal  consciousness. 
Let  him  from  fancy  or  speculation  attempt  to  map 
out  the  ocean  bed  or  the  planetary  system,  and  what 
a  different  chart  of  the  mighty  deep,  or  of  the 
mechanism  of  the  heavens,  would  he  produce  from  the 
true.  Let  the  untutored  mind  of  man  try  to  form 
to  itself  an  idea  of  anything  he  has  neither  seen  nor 
heard  described,  and  how  different  will  his  concep- 
tions of  the  thing  be  from  the  reality.  And  if  such 
be  the  case  with  his  conceptions  of  the  finite  and 
material,  how  far  short  must  they  come  of  reaching 
up  to  the  realities  of  God.  Man  without  the  aid  of 
instruction  cannot  arrive  at  correct  views  of  matter 
and  spirit  in  the  finite,  how  much  less  without 
revelation  can  he  attain  to  clear  and  compreliensive 
conceptions  of  the  being  and  designs  of  God.  Man 
cannot,  then,  by  the  aid  of  reason  repent  and  turn  to 
God. 

If,  then,  man  cannot  by  any  effort  of  his  own  dis- 
cover a  way  of  repentance,  can  he  prevail  upon  God 
to  manifest  to  him  a  power  to  reconcile  his  dis- 
ordered condition  %  This,  however,  is  not  what  the 
"natural  man"  desires.  What  he  is  anxious  about 
is  not  a  deliverance  from  self  or  selfishness,  but  from 
the  consequences  of  sin.  After  a  way  of  deliverance 
from  this  the  nations  have  blindly  wandered,  but 
wandered  in  vain.  In  search  of  a  favourable  mani- 
festation from  heaven,  man  has  gone  to  his  idols  with 
earnest    entreaty,    severe    penances,    and    expensive 


172  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

sacrifices ;  Ijut  ^vliat  coulil  idolatry  do  in  tlie  mani- 
festations of  the  Divine,  or  in  the  revelation  of  a 
readjusting,  reconciling  power  from  God  ?  For  while 
an  idol  is  nothing  in  itself,  it  is,  as  before  said,  a  fearful 
reality  in  the  thoughts,  apprehensions,  and  realisations 
of  superstitious  man.  Man's  efforts  to  induce  God  to 
look  favourably  on  him  have  plunged  him  from 
high  conceptions  of  God  into  degrading  notions  of 
the  Divine,  and  inured  him  in  the  practice  of  fiendish 
deeds.  Fallen  man  has  conceived  of  God  as  an 
avenging  tyrant  only  to  be  moved  to  compassion 
by  the  sight  of  mangled  carcasses,  bloody  offerings, 
self-inflicted  penances,  and  loud  and  long  supplica- 
tions. And  Avhat  are  such  conceptions  of  the  heart 
of  God  but  caricatures  of  the  Holy  One  ?  Man  has 
not  presented  his  deeds  to  Heaven  as  exponents  of 
his  deep  conviction  of  spiritual  disorder,  of  his  eager 
desire  to  escape  from  the  bondage  of  the  "  carnal 
mind,"  and  the  pledge  of  his  resolution  to  deny  self, 
but  as  a  spectacle  of  wretchedness  to  move  that  Love 
to  pity,  which  never  has  but  pitied  and  yearned 
with  deep  emotion  and  earnest  desire  to  embrace 
him.  It  is  not  in  the  faith  of  God's  j)urpose  to  re- 
concile man 'to  Himself  through  the  manifestation  of 
Divine  self-sacrificing  Love  that  man  looks  throuMi 
sacrifice  to  God,  but  to  pro])itiate  a  revengeful  Deity, 
to  induce  Heaven  to  indu]<j:;e  him  in  his  own  desires 
and  ways  of  life.  He  does  not  with  earnest  desire 
supplicate  God  to  be  merciful  to  him  with  a  view 
to  have  his  inner  life  moulded  after  the  image  of 
the  Divine,  but  to  induce  the  unchanging  God  to  act 


INABILITY.  173 

toward  Lim  in  a  way  suggested  by  liis  feelings,  which 
are  not  heavenward.  Can,  then,  the  cherishing  and 
expressing  of  such  desire  induce  God  to  manifest  the 
readjusting  power  of  His  mercy,  "grace  reigning 
throuo;h  righteousness  unto  eternal  life"?  Fallen 
man  "desires  not  God,  nor  the  knowledge  of  His 
ways."  The  "  natural  man "  has  no  desire  for  the 
truly  Divine,  no  longing  after  the  realisation  of 
the  melting,  quickening,  transforming  power  of 
infinite  self-sacrificing  Love.  No,  he  only  seeks  to 
induce  God  to  let  him  alone  in  the  enjoyment  of 
self.  And  is  God  to  indulge  man  in  such  desire  ? 
That  be  far  from  Him. 

Man,  then,  is  helpless,  utterly  helpless  in  the  matter 
of  his  own  deliverance  from  the  consequences  of  his 
transgression  of  the  Divine  law.  He  cannot  by 
any  efibrt  of  his  own  escape  from  his  inner  conflict. 
He  cannot  bring  back  God  into  his  soul,  nor  can  he 
of  himself  enter  into  reconciliation  with  God;  and  if 
he  is  to  be  rescued  from  his  ruin,  that  rescue  must 
be  effected  by  a  higher  manifestation  of  Divine  love 
than  creation  affords,  for  as  in  the  attractions  of 
matter,  so  in  the  allurings  of  spirit,  the  power  ade- 
quate to  raise  a  body  must  be  greater  than  that 
which  has  been  found  insufiicient  to  retain  it  in  its 
former  position.  The  most  illustrious  of  the  sons  of 
philosophy  and  religion,  from  Socrates  to  Hamilton, 
have  acknowledged  that  man  is  unable  to  deliver 
himself,  and  requires  to  look  to  a  higher  power  than 
his  own.  "But  where  is  wisdom  to  be  found?  and 
where  is  the  place  of  understanding  ?     Man  knoweth 


174  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

not  the  price  thereof;  neither  is  it  to  he  found  in 
the  land  of  tlie  living.  The  depth  saith,  It  is  not 
in  me  :  and  the  sea  saith,  It  is  not  with  me.  .  .  .  Then 
did  He  see  it,  and  declare  it ;  He  prepared  it,  yea,  and 
searched  it  out.  And  nnto  man  He  said,  Behold,  the 
fear  of  the  Lord,  that  is  wisdom  ;  and  to  depart  from 
evil  is  understandinof." 


(  175  ) 


CHAPTER   XI. 

RECON  CILIA  TION. 

Reconciliation  between  God  and  man  is  not  like  tlie 
formation  of  acquaintance  l)etween  parties  formerly 
unknown  to  eacli  otlier,  nor  is  it  like  an  agreement, 
between  individuals  at  variance,  to  sink  in  oblivion 
their  matter  of  difference.  Reconciliation  is  the 
return  of  those  who  were  once  at  enmity  to  the  most 
cordial  and  intimate  friendship  ;  it  is  the  seeing  the 
matter  of  former  dispute  in  the  same  light,  regarding 
it  with  the  same  sentiments,  acting  toward  it  on  the 
same  principles.  Reconciliation  embraces  the  entire 
life — every  emotion  of  the  heart,  every  thought  of  the 
mind,  every  movement  of  the  will.  This  reconcilia- 
tion is  not  a  forcing  into  distasteful  agreement  on  the 
one  side,  or  the  reluctant  compliance  with  conditions 
of  union  on  the  other.  There  is  indeed  a  drawing  on 
the  one  side,  and  a  complying  with  conditions  on  the 
other ;  but  this  drawing  is  all  in  harmony  with  the 
principles  and  requirements  of  spiritual  and  respon- 
sible life,  and  this  compliance  is  all  in  strict  accordance 
with  the  unfettered  movements  of  free  agency. 

Reconciliation  presupposes  mutual  variance — injury 
done  on  the  one  hand,  and  dissatisfaction  felt  on  the 
other.  If  there  be  no  wTong  done,  there  can  be  no 
dissatisfaction  felt  at  wrong-doing;    or  if  wrong  be 


176  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LI  IE. 

clone,  and  no  dissatisfaction  felt  on  account  of  it, 
then  there  can  he  no  variance  or  strife.  In  order  to 
variance  or  strife  there  must  not  only  be  wrong  done 
on  the  one  hand,  hnt  likewise  dissatisfaction  felt  with 
it  on  the  other.  Eeconciliation  involves  a  chano'c  of 
intercourse  arisino^  out  of  a  change  of  feelin<T :  this 
chano;e  of  feelins^  arises  out  of  a  chanofc  of  relation, 
and  this  change  of  relation  arises  out  of  a  change  of 
action.  And  this  action  must  be  in  the  inverse  order 
of  the  conduct  producing  the  discord.  In  producing 
the  discord,  man  is  the  first  mover  and  chief  actor ; 
but  in  effectinoc  reconciliation,  God  is  the  first  mover 
and  chief  actor.  In  producing  the  discord,  man  dis- 
turbs the  existing  harmony  by  acting  inconsistently 
Avith  the  rules  of  action  and  the  j)rinciples  of  inter- 
course ;  in  effecting  reconciliation,  God  acts  so  as  to 
re-establish  harmony  by  readjusting  the  principles 
which  were  disturbed  by  the  injury.  In  effecting  this 
reconciliation,  God  cannot  of  course  act  inconsistently 
with  Himself.  He  cannot  violate  any  one  j^'i'inciple 
of  right,  nor  lose  one  object  by  attempting  to  gain 
another ;  He  cannot  gratify  one  class  of  emotions 
at  the  expense  of  another,  nor  can  He  maintain  one 
set  of  principles  by  injuring  another.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  cannot  suj^pose  that  God  will  require  of 
man  anything  that  would  do  violence  to  any  one 
principle  of  his  nature  or  relation  of  his  life.  He  will 
not  recpiire  of  man  anything  that  would  at  all  injure 
him,  or  require  of  him  what  would  do  the  least  injury 
to  another.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  reconciliation 
must  be  propounded  by  God  to  man  in  a  clear  and 


RE  CONCILIA  TION.  1 7  7 

distinct  manner,  in  sncli  a  form  as  sliall  arrest  his 
attention,  exhibit  to  him  the  heiglit  of  his  offending, 
and  the  character  of  the  Being  he  has  injured,  as  also 
the  facihties  provided  for  his  reconciliation.  If,  more- 
over, an  adequate  basis  of  reconciliation  has  been 
j^rovided  by  God  and  propounded  to  man,  and  if  man 
fidly  and  cordially  accepts  of  the  terms  and  closes  in 
with  the  basis  of  reconciliation,  then  reconciliation  is 
complete,  and  the  intercourse  interrupted  is  once 
more  restored  and  rendered  more  close  and  endearinee, 
and  man,  learning  from  experience  of  the  past,  will 
be  more  circumspect  in  the  future,  and  thus  a  friend- 
ship, deep  and  augmenting,  will  bind  man  to  God  in 
bonds  of  everlasting  love  and  gratitude. 

As  long  as  a  creature  acts  in  accordance  with  the 
end  of  his  being  and  the  Avill  of  his  Creator,  God  can 
have  no  fault  to  find  with  him ;  between  this  creature 
and  God  there  can  be  nothing  but  fellowship  up  to 
the  full  measure  of  his  capacity,  but  the  moment  a 
creature  acts  in  opposition  to  the  law  of  his  life,  he 
must  injure  himself  and  rob  the  Creator  of  His  glory. 
From  the  very  nature  of  moral  being  the  creature,  by 
transgressing  the  law  of  his  life,  deprives  himself  of 
the  consciousness  of  innocence  and  the  sense  of  the 
Divine  approbation ;  he  awakens  within  himself  the 
consciousness  of  guilt,  and  introduces  into  his  inner 
being  the  elements  of  conflict ;  the  moral  agent  cannot 
rest  in  the  consciousness  of  wrong-doing ;  as  already 
indicated  he  will  endeavour  to  roll  over  on  his  Creator 
the  blame  of  his  transgression,  and  try  to  vindicate 
himself  at  the  expense  of  God.     Now,  to  such  con- 

M 


1 78  THE  SCIENCE  OE  SPIRITUAL  LITE. 

duct  on  tlie  part  of  tlic  sinner,  God  cannot  be  indif- 
ferent. He  condemns  and  holds  the  sinner  guilty 
because  of  his  attempt  to  remove  the  burden  from  his 
own  shoulders.  In  the  variance  that  subsists  between 
man  and  God,  the  sinner  has  been  the  first  and  chief 
actor;  he  has  set  himself  in  opposition  to  God  and 
God  to  him,  and  if  God  were  actuated  by  hatred, 
revenge,  or  any  similar  sentiment,  reconciliation 
between  God  and  the  sinner  would  be  an  impos- 
sibility. If  there  is  to  be  reconciliation  between  God 
and  the  sinner,  God  must  be  the  first  mover  and  chief 
actor  in  effecting  it,  for  if  the  very  ground  of  disputa- 
tion between  God  and  the  sinner  be  as  it  is,  the 
attempt  of  the  sinner  to  justify  himself  by  rolling  the 
blame  of  his  transgressions  over  on  God,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  sinner  will  not  be  the  first  to  seek  reconcilia- 
tion ;  but  granting  for  a  moment  that  he  were  the  first 
to  desire  reconciliation,  he  could  do  nothing  in  the 
way  of  procuring  a  basis  or  of  propounding  the  terms 
of  reconciliation,  and  thus,  unless  God  desires  it,  there 
can  be  no  reconciliation. 

Further,  if  God  desires  a  reconciliation  with  the 
sinner,  Pie  must  provide  an  adequate  basis,  and 
come  to  the  sinner  with  the  terms  of  reconciliation. 
This  l)asis,  as  already  indicated,  must  be  worthy  of 
God,  and  suitable  to  the  condition  of  the  sinner. 
It  must  in  no  wise  compromise  any  perfection  of 
the  Divine  character.  Nor  can  this  basis  of  recon- 
ciliation require  anything  of  the  sinner  that  would 
be  inconsistent  with  his  wcllbeing.  It  must  upliold, 
in  all  their  integrity,  the  perfections  of  the  Divine 


RECONCILIA  TION.  1 7  9 

nature,  law,  and  government ;  it  must  afford  an 
exhibition  of  God's  love  to  humanity,  and  give  a 
display  of  God's  desire  to  be  at  peace  Avith  the 
sinner.  It  must,  likewise,  be  adequate  to  meet  all 
the  sinner's  wants,  and  able  to  fire  him  with  devout 
love  to  God,  to  remove  from  him  the  consciousness 
of  guilt,  to  unite  his  convictions  Avith  the  eternal 
and  immutable  principles  of  truth  and  righteous- 
ness, to  show  to  him  how  even  sin  may  be  made 
an  occasion  of  glory  to  God,  and  of  good  to  His 
creatures. 

If  the  basis  of  reconciliation  fail  in  any  one  of 
these  conditions,  it  cannot  be  a  means  of  reconciling 
man  and  God  ;  but  if  it  meets  all  these  conditions,  it 
will  be  sufficient  for  that  purpose.  This  basis  must 
be  propounded  to  the  sinner  by  God,  in  terms  which 
Avill  show  to  him  the  consequences  of  his  continuing 
in  enmity,  and  the  blessedness  of  his  being  recon- 
ciled to  God.  And,  then,  if  the  sinner  fully  and 
cordially  close  in  with  the  terms  of  reconciliation 
propounded,  and  take  up  his  position  on  the  basis 
provided,  God  will  be  fully  satisfied  with  him,  and 
he  with  God.  The  reconciliation  will  be  complete, 
and  the  friendship  one  that  will  ever  grow  and 
prove  increasingly  delightful. 

Any  basis  of  reconciliation  propounded  by  God 
Avill  not  be  such  as  admits  of,  or  in  any  Avay  provides 
for,  any  alteration  of  the  substance,  or  change  in  the 
constitution  of  the  transgressor's  nature ;  that  Avould 
be  to  destroy  the  transgressor  and  make  another 
creature   in  his  stead.      Nor    can    it    admit    of    any 


I  So  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

alteration  of  tlie  powers,  or  change  in  the  faculties 
of  the  human  spirit,  for  that  woiihl  be  to  change 
the  constitution  of  man ;  nor  can  it  allow  of  an 
alteration  of  the  circumstances,  or  change  of  the 
external  condition  of  human  life,  for  that  would  he 
equivalent  to  placing  the  transgressor  in  another 
objective  world,  and  a  virtual  admission  on  the  part 
of  God  that  He  was  not  just  and  benignant  in  the 
formation  of  the  old. 

Eeconciliation,  if  effected  between  God  and  man, 
must  be  accomplished  by  producing  a  change  in  the 
inner  life  of  man.  And  this  chano^e  in  the  nature 
and  life  of  the  transgressor  can  be  effected  only  by 
procuring  a  change  in  his  relations  to  the  law  and 
demand  of  the  Divine  administration.  In  order  to 
the  sinner's  reconciliation  with  God,  he  must  be 
rescued  from  the  bondage  of  Satan,  and  delivered 
from  the  condemnation  of  the  law  with  its  consequent 
apprehension  of  wrath,  he  must  also  be  freed  from  false 
and  erroneous  conceptions  of  the  Divine ;  and  this 
can  be  accomplished  in  the  sinner,  only  by  leadnig 
him  to  see  a  manifestation  on  God's  part  of  mercy 
and  grace,  and  he  can  be  led  to  see  this  only  througli 
means  of  awakening  in  him  love  to  God,  which  may 
enable  him  to  perceive  the  wondrous  lovingkindness 
of  the  Lord  in  forgiving  his  sin,  and  inspiring  him 
with  longings  after  the  likeness  and  friendship  of 
God. 

And  this  change  can  be  effected  in  the  sinner 
by  no  display  of  mere  authority,  for  consider  what 
the    change    is,    viz.,    from    enmity    to   love,   from 


RECONCILIATION.  i8i 

darkness  to  liglit,  from  aversion  to  zeal,  from 
sympathy  witli  self  to  sympathy  with  God.  It 
is  clear  that  no  mere  display  of  authority  can  effect 
such  a  change.  Authority— the  right  of  command 
l)clono-s  to  God  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case ;  but 
when  authority  requires  to  be  prominently  set  forth 
and  formally  enjoined,  the  formal  injunction  of 
authority  proves  that  there  is  a  lack  of  sympathy  in 
the  subject  to  the  sovereign— of  will  with  duty  in 
those  over  whom  the  authority  requires  to  be  enjoined. 
The  inculcation  of  authority  in  such  cases  is  not  likely 
to  awaken  sympathy  in  the  subjects  of  it.  God,  e.g., 
is  possessed  of  all  the  authority  He  ever  had,  and  He 
always  put  forth  His  authority  in  its  every  legitimate 
form.  He  has  given  forth  His  law  and  enjoined  His 
commands  with  all  its  solemn  sanction,  yet,  notwith- 
standing all  this,  the  effect  has  in  no  case  been  the 
drawimr  of  the  rebellious  towards  Himself.  On  the 
contrary,  it  has  only  at  most  made  them  to  crouch 
before  Him  like  slaves,  as  did  the  Israelites  before 
Him  at  Mount  Sinai.  The  most  august  sovereign 
on  earth  never  yet  put  down  a  rebellion  by  any 
promulgation  of  his  authority  or  mere  announcement 
of  right.  No  announcement  of  authority  on  earth  or 
in  hell  ever  has,  or  ever  will,  change  a  slave  into  a 
child,  a  rebel  into  a  loyal  subject.  And  he  who 
would  attempt  to  effect  this  change  by  such  means, 
would  manifest  folly  instead  of  wisdom ;  which  God 
cannot  do.  Mere  authority  has  no  power  to  change 
the  heart  of  rebel  man. 

Nor  could  this  change  be  effected  by  a  mere  dis- 


1 82  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

play  of  force ;  liatred  caniiot  be  expelled,  nor  love 
awakened  in  the  iiuman  breast  by  any  display  of 
force,  however  energetic ;  and  with  reverence  be  it 
spoken,  were  God  to  attempt  this  change  by  any  such 
means,  the  attempt  would  only  produce  the  opposite 
result.  It  w^ould  make  the  sinner  recoil  from  God 
aud  cling  the  more  tenaciously  to  self.  Love  is  a 
voluntary  act  of  the  soul,  and  can  be  drawn  into 
exercise  only  by  a  display  of  the  loveable,  and  no 
voluntary  act  of  the  free  spirit  can  be  compelled 
by  force. 

Moreover,  this  change  from  hatred  to  love,  and  love 
to  hatred,  cannot  be  effected  by  wrath,  i.e.,  the  inflic- 
tion of  merited  sufferino;.  One  of  the  elements  in  the 
feeling  of  dread  and  dislike  which  the  rebellious  have 
for  Supreme  power  is  their  aversion  to  pain,  and  the 
pain  arising  from  the  consciousness  of  guilt  in  the 
operation  of  the  reactionary  powers  of  nature  must 
be  dreaded,  and  He  who  sustains  this  power  in 
operation  must  be  disliked. 

The  very  dread  of  such  infliction  makes  the  being 
Avho  is  suspected  of  inflicting  the  punishment  hated. 
Let  the  reader  keep  before  his  mind  the  fact  that 
''the  carnal  mind"  is  enmity  against  God,  and  that 
the  very  nature  of  enmity  from  the  human  side  is  to 
make  its  possession  view  in  the  worst  jDOSsible  light 
the  doings  of  the  hated.  And  then  let  him  consider 
what  must  Ije  the  effect  of  a  disj)lay  of  severity  by 
that  God  who  is  the  object  of  the  enmity  of  the 
"carnal  mind."  The  effect  in  the  suspicious  and 
rebellious  can  only  be  to  exasperate  their  enmity  and 


RECONCILTATION.  183 

confirm  tliem  in  tlieir  rebellion.  It  is  not  conceivable 
that  it  should  awaken  love  and  confidence  in  the 
breasts  of  the  haters  towards  the  hated.  A  sovereign 
may  put  down  a  rebel  force  in  arms  against  him  ;  he 
may  restrain  the  violence  of  the  lawless ;  he  may 
even  convince  them  of  the  futility  of  their  effort  to 
disturb  his  government,  but  this  will  not  convert  their 
hatred  into  luve.  And  even  this  suppression  can 
only  be  of  the  physical,  not  of  the  spiritual.  The 
opposition  of  the  rebel  spirit  can  never  be  put  down 
by  mere  force,  save  in  annihilation.  The  efforts  to 
supj)ress  rebellion  by  force  has  never  drawn  out  the 
hearts  of  the  rebellious  in  affection  to  the  ruler.  The 
display  of  severity  in  vengeance  will  never  convert 
the  rebel  into  a  loyal  subject.  What,  for  example,  has 
been  the  effect  of  Divine  wrath  on  those  on  wdiom 
severity  has  fallen — on  Satan  and  his  legions  ?  Let  the 
temptation  in  paradise,  in  the  Avilderness,  and  the 
hellish  assault  in  the  hour  and  power  of  darkness 
declare. 

A\'e  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  tor- 
ments of  hell  will  allay  the  passions,  subdue  the 
enmity,  and  fire  the  hearts  with  love  and  gratitude 
of  those  who  are  shut  up  in  chains  of  darkness. 
On  the  contrary,  the  effect  is  only  confirmed  and 
embittered  enmity  on  their  part.  To  think  other- 
wise is  to  believe  in  opposition  to  the  evidence  of 
experience.  If  the  wrath  of  God  could  lead  to 
repentance,  then  would  there  be  no  need  of  an 
Atonement,  there  could  be  no  eternity  of  punishment 
and  little  glory  in  the  salvation  of  sinners.      Enmity 


1 84  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

would  not  only  exhaust  itself  by  its  own  exercise,  but 
convert  itself  into  love. 

On  tlie  other  hand,  clemency  or  mere  indulgence 
cannot  effect  this  change.  We  freely  grant  that 
the  tendency  of  goodness  on  susceptible  hearts  is  to 
awaken  in  them  the  feelings  of  love  and  gratitude ; 
goodness  is  of  the  cpality  of  loveliness.  Hence,  says 
the  Apostle,  "  the  goodness  of  God  leadeth  thee  to 
repentance."  But  the  goodness  of  which  Paul  speaks 
is  the  goodness  of  God  in  connection  with  the  dis- 
pensation  of  mercy.  Our  inquiry,  however,  is  not 
concerning  the  effects  of  goodness  in  connection  with 
a  dispensation  of  grace,  but  of  goodness  or  favours 
bestowed  on  rebel  spirits.  Goodness  disjDlayed  to- 
wards the  fallen  in  connection  with  mercy  will  not  of 
itself  lead  to  repentance.  The  goodness,  z.e.,  kindness, 
bestowed  on  the  young  man  that  came  to  Christ 
inquiring  what  good  thing  he  should  do  to  inherit 
eternal  life,  did  not  lead  him  to  repentance.  The 
distino-uishino;  favours  conferred  on  the  nation  of  the 
Jews  did  not  bring  it  to  repentance.  The  abundance 
of  gold  discovered  in  California  and  in  the  Australian 
Colonies,  with  their  natural  beauty,  fertility,  and 
salubrious  climate,  has  not  led  those  who  most  bene- 
fited by  such  to  repentance,  but  have  intoxicated 
them  with  vanity  and  forgetfulness  of  God.  If  such 
goodness,  in  connection  with  the  proclamation  of 
mercy,  has  failed  to  bring  men  to  repentance,  what 
would  have  been  the  condition  of  mankind  if  God 
had  not  cursed  the  ground  for  man's  sake,  but  had 
lavished  His  favours  in  causing  it  to  bring  forth  in 


RECONCILIATION.  185 

unbounded  luxuriance  ?  What  lias  generally  been  the 
character  of  those  who  in  all  ages  have  been  nursed 
on  the  lap  of  fortune  ?  Those  of  them  that  have 
realised  repentance  will  be  the  first  to  declare  that  it 
was  not  the  abundance  of  good  things,  but  the  grace 
of  God,  that  led  them  to  repentance.  If,  while 
restrained  by  a  merciful  dealing  with  them,  men 
have  been  proud  boasters,  inventors  of  evil,  what 
would  have  been  their  condition  if  they  had  been 
left  to  themselves  amid  the  fulness  of  Nature's 
lavished  gifts  ?  The  goodness  of  God  to  man  in 
Eden's  loveliness  failed  to  retain  him  in  friendship 
with  God ;  hence  we  may  conclude  that  no  increased 
manifestations  of  favours  bestowed  through  Nature's 
operations  can  draw  him  back  into  that  friendship. 
Let  a  sovereign  open  his  treasures  and  lavish  his  gifts 
in  showing  favours  to  rebels,  and  it  will  soon  appear 
that  this  will  not  change  them  into  loyal  subjects. 
The  gentleness  and  kindness  of  Louis  XYL  of  France 
is  proof  on  this  point.  Lavished  favours  heaped  on 
rebels  is  likely  to  lead  them  to  reason  thus  with 
themselves :  "  We  have  brought  the  tyrant  to  his 
senses,  and  now  that  we  know  how  to  make  him  act 
as  he  ought  to  do,  we  will  not  lose  sight  of  our 
accjuired  knowledge  and  power ; "  and  thus  they 
would  be  led  to  despise  him  the  more.  Divine 
favours  lavished  on  sinning  man  would  only  have 
been  received  with  brute  indifference  towards  the 
giver,  and  would  have  led  them  to  think  in  their 
hearts  and  to  say,  "Now  that  by  sin  we  have  bettered 
our  condition  in  securimr  hi<2;h  and  numerous  advan- 


i86  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

tao-es,  we  sliall  o-o  on  in  tlie  course  we  liave  begun, 
our  ways  are  more  advantageous  to  us  tlian  God's." 
Mere  goodness  or  clemency  in  itself  cannot  lead 
sinners  to  repentance.  And  even  were  clemency 
capable  of  itself  to  lead  men  to  repentance,  it  is 
a  question  as  to  whether  it  would  have  been  con- 
sistent with  the  character  of  God  to  have  bestowed 
such  upon  them.  The  dignity  of  His  character,  the 
honour  of  His  government,  the  wellbeing  of  His 
creatures,  might  thereby  have  been  compromised. 
In  fact,  it  would  have  been  equivalent  to  a  destruc- 
tion of  the  nature  of  things  and  the  authority  of 
God  thus  to  have  made  the  caprice  and  disobedience 
of  the  transgressor  the  principle  of  the  highest 
wellbeing. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  mere  display  of  authority, 
the  mere  exercise  of  force,  the  mere  manifestation 
of  clemency,  could  not  have  led  sinners  to  repentance, 
nor  have  softened  their  impenitent  hearts,  and  filled 
them  with  love  and  gratitude  to  God.  On  the 
contrary,  it  appears  that  these  things  would  only 
have  conferred  a  premium  on  the  self-will  of  the 
creature,  filling  him  with  pride  and  haughtiness. 
How,  then,  we  may  ask,  if  repentance  be  possible, 
was  it  to  be  effected  in  the  heart  of  the  sinner? 
AYas  there  anything  which  God  could  bring  to  bear 
on  the  heart  of  man  which  in  the  nature  of  things 
was  fitted  to  effect  this  change  in  him  ?  Let  us  look 
at  the  matter  a  little  closer,  and  see  if  we  can  dis- 
cover anything  that  was  calculated  to  produce  such 
a  chaniie. 


RE  CONCILIA  HON.  1 8  7 

In  order  to  cause  au  intelligent  being  to  hate  wliat 
lie  loves,  and  to  love   what  he   hates,   in   accordance 
with   every  faculty   and   function   of  his  nature,   he 
must  be  convinced  that  what  he  is  required  to  hate 
is  of  itself  hateful,   and  what  he  is  asked  to  love  is 
in  itself  loveable.      There    must  be  displayed  before 
him  the  hideous   character  and  loathsome  nature  of 
the    hateful,    and    the    lovely    qualities    and    loving 
character  of  the  loveable,  also  the  direful  nature  of 
the  one,  and   the  Divine  character   of  the  other,  as 
bearing    specially    on    himself.     And   these    qualities 
must  not  only  be  fully  displayed,  but  so  conspicu- 
ously   manifested    as    to  arrest  his   observation,   and 
fix  his  attention.     For  it  should  be  borne  in   mind, 
that  the  sinner  is  not  disposed  to  look  on  the  things 
of  God,   nor  to   undergo  the  needful  change.      And 
further,   this   manifestation   must  be   made  so   as  to 
display  the  things  referred  to  in  conjunction,  for  it 
is  only  in  their  being  seen  together,   that  the  effect 
can  be  j)roduced.     But  how  can  this  be  accomplished  ? 
How  can  the  tendency  of  sin,  to  increase  the  misery 
of  the  sinner,  be  displayed  without  subjecting  him  to 
actual  suffering,  and  exasperating  his  enmity,  or  how 
can  the  love  and   loveableness   of   God,   as    bearing 
on  the   sinner,   be    displayed  Avithout  lavishing  His 
favours   upon  him,   and    consequently  inflating  him 
with  pride  and  arrogance. 

Repentance,  the  topic  on  which  we  have  already 
dwelt,  can  be  effected  in  the  sinner  only  by  a  striking 
display  of  the  loveableness  of  the  Divine  character,  in 
God's    love    to    man,   in   contrast    with   the    hideous 


1 88  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

nature  of  sin  in  the  sinner  as  displaying  its  enmity 
to  God.  In  otlier  words,  by  a  manifestation  of  the 
principles  of  the  Divine  character  and  government,  in 
contrast  with  the  real  nature  of  sin.  How,  then, 
were  all  these  characteristics  to  be  displayed  together 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  effect  repentance  in  the  sinner. 
Had  the  King  of  kings  adopted  the  method  of  earthly 
monarchs,  in  displaying  His  love  of  justice,  and  His 
manifestation  of  clemency  by  selecting  a  few  of  the 
more  notorious  of  the  rebels,  with  the  view  of  making 
an  exam^^le  of  them,  while  He  extended  pardon  to 
the  mass,  that  might  have  been  a  display  of  love 
to  perhaps  a  large  majority  of  the  rebels,  but  whether 
it  would  have  been  a  manifestation  of  real  justice, 
we  do  not  stop  to  inquire ;  we  have  no  hesitation, 
however,  in  declaring  that  it  would  not  have  appeared 
to  be  just  in  the  estimation  of  the  condemned.  Nor 
would  the  condign  punishment  of  the  few  liaA^e 
softened  the  hearts  of  the  many.  Let  the  reader  keep 
before  his  mind  the  fact,  that  it  is  with  rebels  we  are 
dealing,  and  that  it  is  of  the  enmity  of  the  "  carnal 
mind  "  that  we  are  speaking.  It  is  well  known  that 
enmity  leads  its  subject  to  put  the  worst  possible 
construction  on  the  doings  of  the  person  against 
whom  the  enmity  is  entertained.  If,  then,  God  had 
manifested  His  favour  to  some,  by  the  punishment  of 
others,  what  would  have  been  the  effect  of  such  an 
act  on  the  mind  of  rebellious  man,  but  to  confirm 
him  in  his  enmity  to  God  ?  He  would  have  looked 
on  such  a  deed  as  mere  tyranny,  and  would  only  the 
more  have  hated   God.      Besides  this   course   could 


RE  CONCILIA  TION.  i  S  9 

never  have  laid  a  basis  of  mercy  to  tlie  wliole  race  ; 
tliose  bearing  the  penalty,  at  least,  must  have  been 
excluded.  And  if  the  whole  race  had  borne  the  pen- 
alty, none  could  have  been  saved.  Thus,  then,  if 
sinners  were  to  be  brought  to  repentance,  it  could  only 
be  through  means  of  substitution.  They  cannot 
be  brought  to  repentance  through  anything  of  their 
own  doing.  If  a  portion  should  suffer  the  penalty 
that  portion  would  not  only  of  necessity  be  lost,  but 
those  bearing  the  penalty  could  not  exert  a  renewing 
influence  on  the  others.  If,  then,  a  substitute  could 
be  foimd,  Avhose  bearing  the  penalty  might  atone  for 
the  sins  of  men,  and  at  the  same  time  convince 
the  sinner  of  God's  love  of  justice,  His  hatred  of  sin, 
and  His  gracious  disposition  to  the  sinner,  then  all 
mioht  turn  out  well. 

It  is  to  this  last  phase  of  substitution  that  we 
wish  particularly  to  point  the  reader's  attention.  AYe 
do  not,  at  present,  refer  to  a  holy  and  voluntary 
substitute,  but  to  the  substitute  whose  sufferings 
were  adequate  to  convince  the  sinner  of  the  awful 
consequences  of  sin,  of  God's  determination  to  sustain 
the  being  of  the  sinner,  and  the  operation  of  all  the 
powers  of  his  nature,  in  whatever  relation  they  were 
brought,  and  at  the  same  time  display  such  a  gracious 
disposition  and  purpose  of  mercy  towards  the  rebel, 
as  was  fitted  to  draw  him  out  of  his  enmity,  into 
love  and  gratitude  to  God.  In  this  substitute,  justice 
must  be  displayed  so  as  to  carry  awe  to  the  sinner's 
mind,  and  strike  terror  into  his  hearts,  so  as  to  alarm 
him  about  his  state,  and  prove  to  him  that  God  is 


I90  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

the  unalteraLle  enemy  of  sin,  and  is  determined  to 
})unisli  every  transgression.  Witliout  such  a  con- 
viction lodged  in  the  breast  of  the  sinner,  he  will 
never  bestir  himself  about  the  consequences  of  his 
sin,  for  the  effect  of  sin  on  his  mind  is  not  only 
to  cause  him  to  love  sin  and  to  hate  God,  but 
also  to  make  him  think  that  God  is  not  so  strict 
a,s  He  is  said  to  be,  and  that,  therefore,  he  may  pos- 
sibly escape  the  punishment  of  his  sin.  Some  awful 
display  of  the  fixed  and  unalterable  determination  of 
God  to  punish  sin  must,  therefore,  be  afforded  to  the 
sinner.  Such  a  display,  in  short,  as  is  fitted  to  con- 
vince him  of  the  real  nature  of  sin,  and  its  insepar- 
able connection  with  suffering,  for  it  must  steadily  be 
kept  in  mind  that  the  sinner  is  in  love  with  sin,  and 
is  inclined  to  look  upon  it  in  the  most  favourable 
lio-ht. 

Had  it  been  consistent  with  the  princij^les  of  Divine 
justice,  or  the  nature  of  substitution,  for  God  to  have 
selected  any  one  or  any  number  of  the  higher  order  of 
intelligences,  to  have  inflicted  on  them  the  jDenalty  of 
human  transgression,  what  would  have  been  the  effect 
on  rebel  man  ? — men  who  from  their  enmity  are  prone 
to  take  the  worst  possible  view  of  God's  character 
and  doings.  The  result  on  their  minds  would,  no 
doubt,  have  been  the  same  or  similar  to  what  it  would 
have  been  had  the  punishment  been  inflicted  on  some 
or  on  all  of  themselves  ;  their  rebel  hearts  would  only 
have  regarded  God  in  such  a  transaction  as  an  Omni- 
potent Tyrant,  sporting  Himself  with  the  miseries  of 


RE  CONCILIA  TION.  1 9 1 

His  creatures,  taking  pleasure  in  the  sulTerings  of 
helpless  and  unoffending  beings,  and  thus  would  only 
have  hated  Him  the  more.  Such  procedure  on  the 
part  of  God  would  not  have  conveyed  a  salutary  im- 
pression to  their  minds  ;  they  would  have  looked  up(jn 
the  whole  transaction  as  a  capricious  act  of  despotic 
power,  and  would  have  said,  This  is  further  injustice, — 
He  has  dealt  harshly  with  us  for  disobeying  His  com- 
mand, and  now  He  delights  Himself  in  exercising  a 
capricious  tyranny  over  His  innocent  and  unoffending 
offspring.  Or  suppose  it  might  have  had  the  effect  of 
strikintf  terror  into  their  hearts,  and  conviction  into 
their  minds  of  God's  determination  to  punish  sin,  and 
of  favour  to  themselves,  such  an  impression  would 
not  have  had  the  (;ff(3ct  of  inspiring  their  souls  witii 
fa-ateful  and  adorin^^  love  to  God ;  it  might  have 
alarmed  but  could  not  have  allured  them.  If  it  had 
not  have  driven  them  from  God  in  despair,  it  would 
only  have  brought  them  into  His  presence  as  trembling 
slaves.  But  that  man  may  be  led  to  repentance,  he  must 
not  only  be  filled  with  hatred  to  sin,  he  must  be  fired 
with  love  to  God,  and  implicit  confidence  in  Him  ; 
and,  therefore,  something  more  than  an  awful  mani- 
festation of  God's  unalterable  determination  to  punisli 
sin  must  be  afforded  to  the  sinner.  Over  and  above 
this  there  must  be  a  striking  and  convincing  proof  of 
God's  love  to  the  sinner  himself;  such  a  proof  as  is 
not  only  fitted  to  drive  him  from  sin,  but  also  to  draw 
him  to  God.  The  point  now  to  be  considered  is  God's 
power  and  wisdom  in  reference  to  the  procuring  such 


192  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE, 

a  substitution  as  could  display  to  man  tins  twofold 
manifestation,  and  effect  a  change  in  the  inner  of  his 
LeinfT,  with  a  view  to  brines  him  to  a  reconciliation 
with  God.  To  the  examination  of  this  topic  the 
following  chapter  is  devoted. 


(  ^93  ) 


CHAPTER   XII. 

POWER   OF  RECONCILIATION. 

An  effective  power  of  reconciliation  must  be  sucli  as 
can  calm  man's  inner  discord  and  dispel  his  internal 
darkness.  This  power  must  make  known  to  man  liow 
he  is  to  rid  himself  of  his  apprehension  of  wrath  and 
of  his  sense  of  blameworthiness.  It  must  be  able  to 
readjust  his  relations  to  God,  harmonise  the  powers, 
and  consecrate  the  functions  of  his  life  to  the  service 
of  God.  It  must  be  a  power  which  Avill  adapt  the 
outgoing-s  of  the  Divine  to  the  conditions  of  the 
human,  and  open  up  the  capacity  of  the  human  to 
the  inflowings  of  the  Divine,  and  bring  back  God  into 
the  soul. 

Man  is  conscious  of  a  deep  craving  of  spirit  after 
the  Infinite  and  Eternal,  but  he  will  not  believe  that 
by  his  transgression  he  has  banished  God  from  his 
soul.  He  will  allow  the  fact  of  his  disobedience,  but 
not  the  blameworthiness  of  his  transo-ression.  Were 
he  to  allow  this  latter,  he  could  see  no  esca^^e  from 
the  dreaded  realm  of  despair.  And  in  this  region 
he  will  not  dwell  nor  rest  with  satisfaction ;  and, 
seeing  no  other  way  of  escape  from  this  dreaded  con- 
sciousness than  by  denying  his  guilt,  this  he  is  ever 

N 


194  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

striving  to  do  in  one  form  or  another,  but  especially 
by  liis  manifold  attempts  to  justify  himself  in  his 
wrong  doing. 

Hence  man  cannot  of  himself  repent,  nor  can  he 
cease  vindicating  himself  and  opposing  God ;  he  can- 
not open  up  the  cnpacities  of  his  soul  to  the  reception 
of  the  inflowings  of  the  Divine,  and  in  the  embrace  of 
his  heart  rise  to  lay  hold  of  God.  And  thus  a  read- 
justing or  reconciling  medium  cannot  j)roceed  from 
man,  or  be  discovered  by  him.  If,  then,  man  is  to  be 
justified  with  God,  the  work  of  readjustment  must 
begin  with  God,  and  the  power  of  reconciliation  must 
proceed  from  the  Almighty ;  and  this  power  must 
come  to  man,  not  through  the  natural,  but  through 
the  spiritual.  Its  roots  are  not  in  the  likings  of  the 
carnal,  but  in  the  self-sacrificings  of  the  Divine. 

Leaving  now  the  ground  of  surmise,  and  setting 
aside  all  antecedent  inferences  as  to  the  qualifications 
which  an  adequate  power  of  atonement,  or  basis  of 
reconciliation,  must  possess,  we  proceed  to  observe 
that  an  atonement  has  been  provided  and  manifested 
to  the  world.  A  new  power  has  been  introduced  into 
the  administration  of  the  Most  High,  a  power  ade- 
quate to  accomplish  all  that  the  occasion  demands. 
This  power  has  been  manifested  to  the  world  in  the 
person  of  the  only-begotten  of  the  Father,  God  reveal- 
ing Himself  in  His  Son  Christ,  the  power  of  God 
and  the  wisdom  of  God,  the  Light  of  the  World,  the 
Life  of  Men.  In  Christ  is  revealed  to  sinners  all  that 
is  necessary  to  their  redemption  ;  and  all  that  is  given 
to  men  is  given  to  them  in  Christ  crucified.     All 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  195 

the  Divine  glory  converges  in  the  Cross  of  Christ,  and 
from  that  Cross  it  is  reflected  in  bright  effidgence. 
In  connection  with  the  Cross  of  Christ  we  have  set 
hcfore  us  the  incarnation,  life,  death,  resurrection,  and 
ascension,  of  the  human  in  union  with  the  Divine. 
We  have  exhibited  to  us  the  design  of  God  to  glorify 
the  human,  through  its  union  with  the  Divine. 


Sec.  I.  In  the  Cross  we  have  brought  near  to  us 
an  outlet  from  the  realm  of  despair.  Eternal  ruin  is 
so  awful  a  thing  to  contemplate,  that  it  cannot  be 
looked  full  in  the  face  by  the  sinner.  It  can  be 
viewed  calmly  by  the  guilty  lover  of  wellbeing  only 
in  the  mirror  of  the  Cross,  i.e.,  in  the  reflected  light  of 
God's  purpose,  through  means  of  His  self-sacrificing- 
love,  to  make  sin  an  occasion  of  glorifying  Himself 
in  the  elevation  of  man,  and  of  promoting  the  general 
wellbeing  of  His  creation.  The  guilty  lover  of  well- 
being  must  have  it  in  his  power  to  see  how  sin,  by 
which  he  has  insulted  the  majesty  of  heaven,  degraded 
his  humanity,  and  injured  the  creatures  of  God,  can 
be  made  to  redound  to  the  glory  of  God,  the  highest 
elevation  of  himself,  and  the  wellbeing  of  creation,  ere 
he  can  calmly  view  sin  in  its  enormity.  Until  he 
sees  an  outlet  from  despair  and  remorse,  he  cannot 
realise  the  fact  of  his  sinninof.  Until  the  sinner  is 
able  to  see  how  sin  can,  through  means  of  Christ's 
self-sacrificing  grace,  glorify  the  Eedeemer  Himself 
and  promote  the  general  good,  he  cannot  repose  in 
the  thought  of  the  just  sufi'ering  in  the  room  of  the 
unjust,  nor  rejoice  in  being  a  partaker  in   Christ's 


196  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

sufferings,  nor  joy  in  God  tlirongli  our  Lord  Jesns 
Christ. 

Humanity  under  the  power  of  tlie  carnal  mind  is 
capable  of  tlie  deepest  degradation  and  meanness, 
but  under  tlie  government  of  self-sacrificing  love  it 
is  a  noble  existence,  incapable  of  a  mean  conscious- 
ness. It  is  susceptible  only  of  an  illustrious  life  and 
honourable  realisation.  Hence,  from  the  very  nature 
of  the  case,  man  cannot  accept  of  a  humiliating 
deliverance,  for  how,  then,  could  he  become  conscious 
of  that  life  wdiicli  only  a  noble,  self-denying  spirit 
can  animate,  and  rise  into  fellowship  with  the 
Divine.  The  thing  is  impossible ;  he  must  be 
excluded  from  this  consciousness  and  fellowship  by 
the  recollection  of  his  guilt,  and  the  conviction  of 
the  meanness  of  his  deliverance.  In  deliverance 
from  sin,  the  sinner  must  know  and  feel  that  sin  is 
but  the  disease  of  humanity,  and  that  his  deliverance 
from  it  is  a  glorious  work,  ere  he  can  realise  the 
Divine  life.  The  lover  of  wellbeing,  ere  he  can 
realise  an  honourable  consciousness  in  his  deliver- 
ance from  selfish  meanness,  must  have  it  in  his 
power  to  see  that  this  deliverance  is  consistent  Avith 
wellbeing  in  all  its  relations  and  interests ;  he  must 
be  enabled  to  perceive  that  sin,  though  essentially 
opposed  to  God,  through  the  operation  of  His  self- 
sacrificingj  love  can  be  made  to  subserve  the  hiofher 
display  of  His  glory  ;  and  that  while  sin  is  necessarily 
destructive  of  the  dignity  and  bliss  of  man,  it  can, 
through  means  of  the  very  fact,  be  made  the  occasion 
of  his  higher  elevation  and  bliss.     By  drinking  in  the 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  197 

spirit  of  self-sacrificing  love,  the  believer  lives  suck 
a  life  as  not  only  enables,  but  necessitates,  his  escape 
from  all  consciousness  of  remorse  and  despair.  The 
truth  disclosed  in  the  death  of  Christ  is  the  very 
revelation  of  the  Divine  which  the  sinner  needs,  the 
light  alone  in  which  he  can  look  the  awful  fact  of  his 
sin  full  in  the  face,  and  not  to  be  tormented  by  the 
recollection  of  his  having  sinned. 

To  the  self-sacrificing  love  of  God  sin  does 
afford  an  occasion  of  bringing  forth  and  displaying, 
in  far  more  conspicuous  and  godlike  form,  the  highest 
perfections  and  grandest  designs  of  Godhead.  Through 
means  of  His  father-love  God  can  deliver  the  sinner 
from  his  prison  house  of  despair,  and  bring  him  into 
the  nearest  possible  assimilation  to  the  Divine,  fire 
him  with  purest  love  and  holiest  gratitude,  and  nerve 
him  with  self-sacrificins;  and  orodlike  resolves.  In 
this  way  the  sinner  attains  an  elevation  and  blessed- 
ness far  beyond  what  he  ever  could  otherwise  have 
reached.  But  for  sin,  as  far  at  least  as  we  can  see, 
there  could  have  been  no  enmity  in  the  human  to  the 
Divine,  and  no  room  could  have  been  left  for  a 
display  of  God's  love  to  the  human  in  self-sacrifice. 
He  could  never  have  given  to  His  creatures  such  a 
striking  and  conspicuous  display  of  His  divinest 
perfections,  nor  have  exhibited  to  the  sinner  the 
fact  that,  by  yielding  himself  up  to  God's  grace,  he 
can  imitate  Christ,  and  become  a  fellow-worker  with 
Him  in  His  glorious  work.  God,  in  bringing  near 
His  grace  to  the  sinner,  gives  him  the  most  favourable 
opportunity   of   acquiring   a   godlike   character,    and 


198  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

pursuing  the  most   illustrious   career  possible  to  tlie 
finite. 

And  yet  this  display  of  Divine  grace  in  no  way 
alters  the  nature  of  sin.  Sin  is  rebellion  against 
God,  opposition  to  His  j)erson,  character,  and  govern- 
ment ;  it  is  loathsome  in  His  sight,  and  exceedingly 
hateful  to  Him.  It  can  in  no  way  be  countenanced, 
extenuated,  or  employed  by  God.  If  it  could,  to 
that  extent,  it  would  cease  to  be  sin,  and  God's  self- 
sacrificing  love  could  not  have  been  made  apparent, 
nor  have  been  self-sacrificing  love.  Nor  can  sin  in 
itself  be  in  any  sense  beneficial  to  the  sinner  ;  it  is 
the  disease,  the  death  plague,  the  tormenting  power 
of  his  soul.  Still,  because  of  sin,  the  Cross  of  Christ 
has  been  erected,  which  only  the  more  conspicuously 
enables  God  to  manifest  His  purpose  through  self- 
sacrificing  love  to  make  sin  the  occasion  of  working 
out  the  glorious  design  of  His  eternal  council,  and 
achieving  the  Godlike  purpose  of  His  heart.  The 
Cross  of  Christ  displays,  in  the  most  striking  manner, 
the  design  of  God,  through  the  operation  of  His  self- 
sacrificing  love,  to  take  occasion  from  sin  to  elevate 
man  in  the  consciousness  of  the  Divine  life,  to  array 
him  in  brighter  glory,  and  to  thrill  him  with  deeper 
bliss  than  otherwise  he  ever  could  have  been  made  to 
realise.  The  Cross  of  Christ  shows  the  purpose  of 
God  through  the  self-sacrifice  of  His  love,  to  make 
sin  the  occasion  of  revealing  to  man  the  way  of 
escape  from  sin,  and  through  this  deliverance  rise  to 
the  hio^hcst  eminence  the  beejotten  son  can  ever 
reach.      The   Cross   reveals   to   man    how,    that   by 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  199 

opening  his  heart  to  the  love  of  God  he  is  made 
to  glow  with  the  most  Godlike  flame — the  very  love 
of  God  itself.  The  manifestation  of  God's  self-sacri- 
ficino-  love  in  the  Cross  shows  to  the  sinner  that 
l)y  yielding  up  his  mind  to  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus,  he  can  be  made  to  comprehend,  in  the  fullest 
manner  in  which  they  can  be  revealed  to  finite 
understanding,  the  deep  things  of  God,  and  that  by 
entering  into  the  fellowship  of  the  gospel  of  the  Son 
of  God,  he  is  enabled  to  repose  with  Christ  in  the 
heavenly.  And  thus  the  wants  of  his  nature  are 
met,  the  restless  cravings  of  his  spirit  are  set  at  rest, 
and  the  incessant  longings  of  his  soul  abundantly 
satisfied.  The  gulf  between  him  and  God  annihilated, 
he  dwells  in  God,  and  God  in  him  ;  his  apprehen- 
sion of  wrath  is  for  ever  banished  ;  and  yet,  in  all 
this,  he  sees  that  sin  is  the  occasion  only,  and  no- 
thing more,  of  aflfordiug  to  the  self-sacrificing  love  of 
God  the  opportunity  of  accomplishing  His  gracious 
designs. 

Sec.  II.  But  the  sinner  needs  not  only  to  have 
set  before  him  an  outlet  from  despair  ;  he  likewise 
requires  to  have  aflforded  to  him  an  insight  into  the 
character  and  workings  of  the  "  carnal  mind."  The 
natural  man  does  not  believe  that  he  hates  God, 
hence  his  need  of  having  an  opportunity  furnished 
to  him,  so  that  he  may  perceive  how  sin  in  the  heart 
of  fallen  man  acts  towards  God.  He  must  have  the 
opportunity  of  seeing  that,  to  the  extent  a  man 
is  under   the  dominion  of  the  "carnal    mind" — he 


200  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

is  opposed  to  God.  The  carnal  mind  in  man  is 
the  selfish  effort  of  the  sinner  to  be  great  and  happy 
in  following  the  blind  impulses  of  his  godless  heart, 
and  his  endeavours  to  vindicate  himself  in  these 
efforts.  Hence  the  sinner  in  acting  from  the  carnal 
acts  under  the  sway  of  falsehood  and  the  dominion  of 
*'  the  fatlier  of  lies."  His  notions  of  religion,  dignity, 
and  happiness  have  no  agreement  with  the  eternal 
and  immutable  principles  of  being  and  subjection  to 
the  Divine.  He  strives  to  live  above  the  restraint  of 
law,  and  is  practically  "  without  God  in  the  world." 
And  hence  the  Apostle  declares  that  "  the  carnal 
mind  is  enmity  against  God,  and  is  not  subject  to  the 
law  of  God,  nor  indeed  can  be."  God  cannot  dwell 
in  the  "carnal  mind,"  nor  can  the  "carnal  mind" 
draw  near  to  Him  in  the  love  and  reception  of  the 
"Truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  God  and  "the  carnal 
mind "  are  distant  from  each  other  by  the  whole 
diameter  of  being.  "  The  carnal  mind  "  can  no  more 
hold  fellowship  with  God  in  spiritual  life  than  the 
savage,  with  his  savage  habits  and  associations,  can 
become  the  civilised  gentleman,  no  more  than  the 
implacable  foe  can  delight  in  holding  friendly  inter- 
course with  his  enemy ;  yet  the  mere  professor  of 
religion  imagines  that,  by  taking  up  a  profession  of 
the  faith,  displaying  deeds  of  external  morality,  and 
consecrating  a  few  gifts,  he  is  presenting  acceptable 
v/orship  to  God.  Hence  the  necessity  of  affording 
to  the  world  in  the  liglit  of  its  own  doings  an 
unmistakable  proof  of  the  enmity  of  "the  carnal 
mind  "  to  God,  and  of  the  impossibility  to  man  under 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  201 

its  sway  of  drawing  near  to  God,  or  of  having  any 
affection  for  him. 

Now  the  Cross  of  Calvary  affords  to  the  world  this 
insight  into  "  the  carnal  mind."  The  Son  of  God, 
suffering  by  the  hands  of  sinners,  is  a  mirror  held  up 
by  God  before  the  eye  of  humanity,  to  enable  man  to 
perceive  the  essential  enmity  of  "  the  carnal  mind," 
and  the  bitter  hatred  of  the  sinful  heart  to  all  that 
is  holy  and  Godlike.  Christ,  the  well  beloved  Son 
of  God,  came  into  the  world  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  claiming  Divine  honours,  living  a  peaceful, 
holy,  and  benevolent  life,  announcing  Himself  to  be 
the  "Sent  of  the  Father,"  "the  Light  of  the  world," 
"the  Life  of  men,"  and  confirmed  His  claim  with 
"  signs  and  wonders,  and  divers  miracles,  and  gifts 
of  the  Holy  Ghost."  He  declared  the  Father-Heart, 
He  revealed  the  sublimest  truth,  He  disclosed  the 
Divine  purpose  of  God,  He  taught  the  loftiest 
morality.  He  lived  a  devoted,  pure,  beneficent  life. 
"  He  went  about  doing  good,"  "  He  did  no  sin, 
neither  was  guile  found  in  His  mouth."  He  slighted 
no  one,  He  injured  no  one.  He  spake  evil  of  no  one, 
He  harboured  no  grudge  toward  any.  He  never 
gave  the  least  occasion  of  offence  to  any  human 
being ;  He  was  incessant  in  His  acts  of  kindness, 
unwearied  in  His  efforts  to  benefit,  and  ever  ready  to 
bless  men  in  every  possible  way.  He  never  did  but 
what  was  fitted  to  draw  out  the  hearts  of  men  in 
gratitude,  and  He  did  all  that  could  be  done  to  bind 
men  to  Himself,  in  the  bonds  of  admiration,  grati- 
tude, and  love.     Yet,  what  was  the  return  which  He 


202  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

met  with,  for  all  His  devotedness  to  tlie  glory  of  God 
in  the  good  of  men  ?  He  was  seized  by  the  hand  of 
violence,  and  wickedly  condemned  to  the  most  cruel 
and  ignominious  of  deaths ;  crucified  between  thieves, 
amid  derision,  scorn,  and  contempt ;  cast  out  of  the 
world  with  all  the  force  of  its  bitter  malignity,  as 
unworthy  of  a  place  among  men.  And  what  led  men 
to  this  treatment  of  the  Son  of  God  ?  SimjDly  "  the 
carnal  mind,"  goaded  on  by  diabolic  hatred  to  the 
Holy  and  Divine.  This  opposition  arose  from  no 
want  of  discernment  in  man  to  perceive  and  appreci- 
ate Christ's  deeds  and  benevolence ;  from  no  want  of 
a  sense  of  obligation  to  God,  or  a  knowledge  of  right 
and  wrong  in  their  doings ;  from  no  want  of  a  prin- 
ciple of  gratitude  in  their  hearts,  to  enable  them 
to  feel  the  obligations  they  were  under  to  such  a 
benefactor.  No ;  it  was  the  hatred  of  "  the  carnal 
mind  "  to  the  S]Diritual  and  Divine,  that  blinded  their 
discernment,  and  stirred  them  up  "  to  kill  the  Lord 
of  Glory." 

Yet,  notwithstanding  the  evidence  thus  afforded 
of  the  enmity  of  "the  carnal  mind,"  man  is  unwilling 
to  believe,  nay,  very  unwilling  to  admit,  the  enmity 
of  his  fallen  nature  to  God  ;  he  positively  refuses  to 
believe  in  the  diabolic  character  of  "the  carnal  mind." 
On  the  contrary,  this  "  carnal  mind,"  in  its  vain  and 
false  delusion,  is  the  very  idol  of  the  world,  the 
imagined  chief  good  which  the  sinner  hugs  to  his 
bosom,  the  "  stranger  "  he  loves,  and  "  after  which  " 
he  "  will  go."  The  end  which  the  sinner  sets  before 
him,  the  god  which  the  world  worships ;  the  dreams, 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION/  203 

visions,  imaofiuations  wliicli  the  vain  man  clierislies; 
tlie  glory,  honour,  and  immortality  wliicli  the  ardent 
of  the  earth  pursue,  these  all  are  hut  the  delusions  of 
the  "  carnal  mind." 

To  afford,  then,  the  clearest  evidence  of  the  opposi- 
tion and  "  enmity  of  the  carnal  mind  "  to  God  which 
man  is  capable  of  receiving,  God,  in  mercy  to  the 
sinful  race,  sent  His  Son  into  the  world ;  placed  Him 
for  the  time  in  the  power  of  sinful  men,  to  let  them 
in  the  light  of  their  oivn  doings  see  in  their  treatment 
of  Him  "  the  enmity  of  the  carnal  mind,"  and  the 
utter  impossibility  of  man,  while  under  its  influence, 
holding  blissful  fellowship  with  God.  Yes,  in  the 
Cross  the  world,  by  its  own  doings,  has  demonstrated 
to  itself,  in  the  clearest  possible  light,  the  fact  of  the 
hatred  of  fallen  man  to  all  that  is  holy  and  godlike. 
No  rational  account,  no  satisfactory  explanation  of 
the  treatment  which  the  Son  of  God  received  from 
the  world,  can  be  given,  but  that  which  traces  it  to 
the  enmity  of  "  the  carnal  mind  ; "  the  hatred  of  the 
corrupt  heart  of  fallen  man  to  God  and  the  godlike. 
"  The  carnal  mind "  in  man  could  not,  would  not, 
endure  the  presence  of  the  Son  of  God.  His  holy 
though  silent  rebuke  of  its  ungodliness  ;  His  earnest 
and  persevering  endeavours  to  draw  the  life  of  man 
away  from  the  fatal  power  under  which  it  lies,  into 
the  power  of  God,  was  deeply  offensive  to  it.  Hence, 
the  world  rose  in  rebellion  against  the  demands 
of  God's  Son.  And  in  the  name  of  God,  in  spite  of 
all  the  proof  He  afforded  it  of  His  Divine  Sonship, 
and  in  defiance  of  all  the  obligations  under  which  He 


204  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

laid  men,  tliey  rose  up  against  Him  and  violently 
thrust  Him  out  from  among  tliem.  They  in  con- 
tempt spat  upon  Him,  and  smote  Him  upon  the  face 
with  their  hands;  they  mantled  Him  in  mock  robes 
of  royalty ;  they  bowed  the  knee  in  derision  of  His 
claims ;  nailed  Him  to  the  "  accursed  tree,""  and 
then,  as  He  hung  in  the  anguish  of  His  atoning 
death  on  their  behalf,  they  reviled  Him,  scorned  Him, 
derided  Him,  and  ridiculed  Him  in  the  depths  of  His 
agonies.  And  those  who  took  the  lead  in  this 
diabolical  work,  and  who  instigated  others  in  this 
infernal  transaction,  were  the  educated,  polished,  and 
refined  of  the  Jews,  the  custodians  of  God's  truth, 
the  very  men  who  boasted  in  being  the  most  religious 
of  the  earth,  acting  for  the  honour  of  the  God  of 
tlieir  fathers.  And  no  explanation  has  been  or  can  be 
given  of  this  diabolical  treatment  of  the  most  meek, 
generous,  and  beneficent  of  men,  but  "the  enmity  of 
the  carnal  mind."  The  crucifixion  of  the  Son  of  God 
is  a  mirror  hung  by  God  before  the  eye  of  the  world, 
to  enable  man  to  look  into  himself,  and  learn  what 
is  the  true  nature  and  character  of  the  '^  carnal." 

Sec.  ni.  But  man  requires  not  only  an  insight 
into  the  working^s  of  the  "carnal  mind,"  but  also  a 
clear  and  unmistakable  demonstration  of  God's 
unalterable  determination  to  maintain  and  uphold 
the  powers  of  being  in  their  full  and  unfettered 
operation,  into  whatever  combination  they  may  be 
1)rought,  until  they  shall  have  effected  the  legitimate 
result  of  their  combination.     Man  needs  this,  so  that 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  205 

lie  may  be  aroused  to  the  consideration  of  liis  latter 
end,  and  this  instructive  lesson  is  afforded  to  liim  in 
the  Cross  of  Calvary. 

The  death  of  Christ,  as  regards  its  j)erson,  its 
principles,  its  manifestations,  and  its  results,  stands 
alone  and  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
It  was  the  death  of  the  Incarnate  One  accomplished 
through  the  malice  of  men  and  devils,  and  by  the 
appointment  of  heaven.  "  Him,  being  delivered  by 
the  determinate  council  and  foreknowledge  of  God, 
ye  have  taken,  and  by  wicked  hands  have  crucified 
and  slain."  The  period  of  the  death  of  Christ  was 
"the  hour"  of  the  "power  of  darkness,"  the  crisis 
of  humanity,  the  era  of  a  combination  never  to  be 
repeated  again.  "  The  prince  of  this  world  "  came  to 
the  "  Son  of  God,"  assailed  Him  with  his  deadly 
weapons,  and  then  a  terrible  conflict  ensued  between 
Satan  and  the  Saviour.  This  struggle  was  in  the 
Soul  of  Emmanuel.  The  Soul  of  Jesus  was  the 
theatre  on  which  the  great  undertaking  of  Godhead 
was  achieved — a  deed  to  which  all  the  prior  acts  and 
designs  of  the  Almighty,  with  respect  to  man,  looked 
forward,  and  from  which  all  the  after-doings  of  the 
Most  Hiirh  take  their  cast  and  colourino;.  Yes  :  the 
Soul  of  Emmanuel  was  the  arena  on  which  the 
grandest  design  of  Infinite  wisdom  was  fully  accom- 
plished, the  darling  purpose  of  the  Father-heart 
completely  achieved,"  a  deed  of  Godhead  veiled  in 
mystery  from  the  gaze  of  mortal  eye ;  but  a  deed  of 
Godhead  in  which  not  only  the  highest  interests  of 
men  and  the  welfare  of  the  universe,  but  also  the 


2o6  THE  SCIENCE  QF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

glory  of  God,  was  deeply  involved,  and  yet  a  mys- 
tery wliicli  will  be  disclosed  in  the  clear  visions  of  the 
after-manifestations  of  the  Divine.  On  the  Soul  of 
Jesus  the  highest  "principalities  and  powers"  of 
being  met,  displayed  their  true  nature,  and  accom- 
plished their  respective  parts.  In  that  wondrous 
combination  enmity  assailed  love,  evil  encountered 
good,  impious  rebellion  grappled  with  pious  devoted- 
ness,  and  selfishness  endeavoured  to  overcome  self- 
sacrificino;  love.  In  this  stranoe  encounter  the  ano-er 
of  God  against  sin  was  fully  displayed,  the  princi- 
2)alities  of  darkness  fully  exposed,  the  principles  of 
the  Divine  government  unswervingly  maintained,  the 
manifestation  of  mercy  given,  the  power  of  life 
created,  and  the  relations  of  the  sj)iritual  readjusted 
and  subordinated  in  a  higher  display  of  Divine  per- 
fection for  the  salvation  of  man.  And  in  this 
tremendous  conflict  justice  had  her  sway,  for  every 
agent,  power,  and  influence  had  and  did  its  own. 
In  this  encounter  with  the  "  j^^^'^i'-'^  of  darkness  "  the 
Saviour  stood  alone  ;  "of  the  people  there  were  none 
with  Him,"  and  the  Father  stood  afar  from  Him. 
The  Father,  who  sustained  the  majesty  of  the  God- 
l^ead  in  Himself,  could  not  descend  with  the  Son 
into  the  conscious  abasement  of  that  hour ;  for  once, 
and  only  for  once,  the  consciousness  of  the  Son  wns 
different  from  the  consciousness  of  the  Father,  the 
realisation  of  the  Son  the  opposite  of  the  realisation 
of  the  Father,  the  subjective  of  the  Son  the  reverse 
of  the  subjective  of  the  Father.  And  in  this  lies  the 
deep  mystery  of  the    cry   upon   the   Cross :    "  Eloi, 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  207 

Eloi,  lama  sabaclitbani."  The  dread  realities  of  this 
hour  were  such  to  the  Incarnate  One  that  even  He, 
with  agonizing  recoil,  shrunk  back  from  the  encounter, 
and  persevered  only  because  the  salvation  of  man  was 
possible  through  no  other  instrumentality. 

Without  for  one  moment  implying  that  there  were 
no  other  ends  involved,  and  no  other  manifestations 
given,  in  this  conflict,  we  are  fully  warranted  in 
asserting  that  the  death  of  Christ  clearly  shows  that 
it  matters  not  by  whom,  or  for  what  purpose,  a 
combination  may  be  formed  ;  yet,  if  it  be  formed, 
God  will  not  go  back  and  alter  the  course  of  things. 
His  own  well -beloved  Son,  for  His  own  glory, 
may  be  brought,  or  rather  go,  into  combination. 
He  may  enter  into  society  with  wicked  men,  and 
come  under  their  power,  and  expose  Himself  to  the 
diabolic  attacks  of  the  agents  of  hell,  and  then  He 
may  cry  earnestly  and  repeatedly  from  the  depths  of 
His  bloody  sweat  and  the  anguish  of  His  lonely  spirit ; 
but  the  Father  will  not  interfere  with,  or  alter  in  the 
least,  any  of  the  powers  brought  into,  and  acting  in,  the 
combination,  but  will  secure  that  each  one  shall  work 
out  its  own  leoitimate  result.     He  will  not  interfere  in 

O 

any  way  to  weaken,  restrain,  or  suspend  any  one  of  the 
powers,  or  alter  their  relations,  but  will  secure  that 
this,  as  every  other  combination,  shall  accomplish  its 
own  end. 

The  agony  and  anguish  of  Christ  in  the  garden 
and  on  the  Cross,  the  death  of  the  Incarnate  One, 
taken  in  connection  with  His  prayer  in  Gethsemane, 
and  His  cry  on  the  Cross,  demonstrate  in  tlie  clearest 


20 8  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

possible  manner  the  unalterable  determination  of 
the  Father  to  secure  to  every  element  in  their  com- 
bination its  own,  and  in  this  way  to  work  out  the 
legitimate  result  of  every  combination  that  may  be 
formed.  The  sentient  or  vital  may  dread  the  pain 
and  death,  the  pure  and  holy  may  shrink  from  con- 
tact with  the  polluted  and  corrupt,  the  pious  and 
devout  may  recoil  from  the  assault  of  the  impious 
and  rebellious,  the  filial  heart  may  agonise  over  the 
withdrawment  of  the  Father's  countenance,  but  if 
the  resolution  be  formed,  the  choice  made,  and  the 
combination  gone  into  even  by  the  well-beloved  Son 
of  God,  for  the  glory  of  the  Godhead  in  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  human,  race,  and  by  the  will  of  the  Father, 
then  must  He  meet  the  consequences  and  realise  the 
results  of  going  into  such  combination,  of  placing 
Himself  within  the  reach  of  such  powers,  by  going 
into  the  sphere  of  their  diabolic  agency.  God  the 
Father,  for  His  own  well -beloved  Son,  will  not  sus- 
pend, alter,  or  destroy,  any  one  of  the  agents  or 
powers  in  the  combination.  He  may  send  His  angel 
to  animate  and  encourage  the  faithftd  in  the  hour  of 
conflict,  but  deliver  from  the  power  of  the  com- 
bination till  it  shall  have  achieved  its  work  He  will 
not. 

If,  then,  such  was  the  display  of  the  Father's 
determination  in  regard  to  combinations,  and  if  such 
was  the  experience  of  the  Son  of  God  in  His  com- 
bination with  the  "  powers  of  darkness,"  the  dreadful 
realisations  of  His  soul,  when  voluntarily  going  into 
combination    with  the  principalities  of  evil,  for  the 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  209 

accomiDlisliment  of  siicli  an  end,  what  must  be  the 
results  and  the  awful  experience  of  those  who,  by 
a  life  of  sin,  voluntarily  go  into  combination  with  the 
powers  of  darkness  for  their  own  selfish  and  worldly 
ends,  and  who,  when  called  upon  by  God  iii  mercy 
to  return  to  Him,  refuse  to  come  out  of  combina- 
tion with  such  powers,  to  form  one  with  love,  light, 
and  life.  Such  persons  must  be  left  to  realise  the 
full  results  of  remaining  in  combination  with  the 
powers  of  evil.  "  If  these  things  be  done  in  the 
green  tree,  what  shall  be  done  in  the  dry  1 "  The 
great  end  of  the  Father,  in  sending  His  only  and 
well  beloved  Son  into  this  tremendous  encounter,  was 
to  exhibit  to  man  that  if  he  will,  in  the  progress  of 
life,  ally  himself  in  thought,  feeling,  association,  and 
consciousness  with  the  powers  of  darkness,  then  there 
is  no  possible  escape  from  their  strife  and  woe.  God 
cannot  go  back  to  restrain  in  any  degree  the  operation 
of  the  powers  in  combination  ;  be  the  victim  who  he 
may,  the  consequences  will  not  induce  Him  to  inter- 
fere, however  terrible  these  may  be. 

Eeader,  we  point  you  not  to  the  deluged  earth, 
to  the  world  submerged  in  the  yawning  billows,  to 
the  dark  and  dismal  heavens  pouring  down  their 
devouring  torrents,  to  the  nether  fountains  of  the 
great  deeps  sending  forth  their  gushing  waters ;  we 
ask  you  not  to  listen  to  the  loud  wailings  of  the 
perishing  millions  of  our  guilty  race,  crying  in  vain 
for  the  assuaging  of  the  waters,  and  as  they  looked 
to  the  heavens  for  an  answer  to  their  prayers,  seeing 

only  in  the  dark  canopy  above  them  the  sackcloth  of 

0 


210  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

despair  ;  we  point  you  not  to  tlie  cities  of  tlic  plains 
enveloped  in  devouring  fire;  we  point  you  not  to 
the  death  of  the  first-born  of  Egypt,  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  Pharaoh's  hosts  in  the  Eed  Sea,  to  the  bodies  ot 
the  rebel  Israelites  strewn  thick  in  the  sandy  deserts  ; 
we  point  you  not  to  the  disease,  suffering,  and  death 
of  the  entire  race  of  man,  for  a  proof  and  manifesta- 
tion of  God's  determination  to  maintain  in  their  full 
operation  the  powers  of  all  combinations.  AVe,  in 
preference,  direct  you  to  Gethsemane  and  Calvary, 
while  we  entreat  you  to  contemplate  that  solemn 
sight,  to  dwell  in  close  and  profound  meditation  on 
that  scene.  We  ask  you  to  consider  who  is  there,  and 
what  He  is  doing.  There  you  behold  the  Son  of 
God,  His  heart  agonised  with  grief  and  wrung  with 
bitter  pangs  ;  His  body  bathed  in  His  own  blood,  in 
the  very  act  of  honouring  His  Father's  law,  obeying 
His  Father  s  will,  a  suppliant  at  His  Father's  foot- 
stool, entreating  His  Father's  heart  to  see  if  it 
were  not  possible  for  "the  cup"  to  pass  from  Him, 
if  it  were  not  possible  for  His  infinite  wisdom  and 
Love  to  divine  or  discover  another  way  of  saving 
souls  from  hell,  in  other  words,  dissolve  the  combina- 
tion formed  by  transgression.  And  yet  no  deliver- 
ance is  found  for  Him.  Jehovah  unsheaths  the  sword 
of  His  justice,  that  He  may  wound  and  bruise  the 
Son  of  His  love.  This  solemn  transaction,  we  need 
not  say,  was  not  one  of  Divine  trifling ;  the  Father 
did  not  sport  with  the  agonies  of  His  own  well- 
beloved  Son.  That  transaction  was  not  a  solemn 
mockery,  on  the  part  of  the  Godhead,  of  all  that 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  211 

is  sacred  in  law,  just  in  government,  and  impressive 
in  creature  feeling.  Was  the  solemnity  of  this  scene 
a  vain  display  of  empty  parade  ?  Is  there  parade 
with  the  Almighty,  is  there  ostentation  with  the 
Most  High,  is  there  trifling  with  Jehovah  in  the 
most  solemn  transaction  of  the  Godhead  ?  Does  the 
Infinitely  perfect  God  require  to  garnish  His  doings 
with  unmeaning  display  in  the  view  of  His  creatures  ? 
Why,  then,  did  it  seem  good  to  the  Father  that  the 
Son  of  His  Eternal  love  should  appear  before  men 
and  angels  in  the  anguish  of  Gethsemane  ?  Why  was 
the  solemn  stillness  of  midnight  broken  in  upon 
by  the  plaintive  cry  of  God's  own  Son  ?  Why  did 
the  object  of  the  Father's  ineffable  love  bleed  and 
groan  on  the  cold  damp  earth  of  midnight  ?  Why 
did  He  agonise  in  the  depth  of  His  soul,  when  no 
mortal  hand  was  upon  Him  ?  Why  did  He,  ''  with 
strong  crying  and  tears,  offer  supplication  to  Him 
that  was  able  to  save  Him,  and  was  heard  in  that 
He  feared,"  and  yet  was  not  rescued,  only  an  angel 
was  sent  from  heaven  to  strens^then  Him  "  to 
drink  "  "  the  cup  ?  "  Why,  but  to  afford  to  fi.nite  in- 
telligence the  most  solemn  and  impressive  manifesta- 
tion it  was  possible  for  Godhead  to  give  of  the 
immutable  determination  of  the  Infinite  Mind — to 
maintain  the  established  order  of  the  universe  un- 
impaired. And  what  condescending  grace  in  the 
Everlasting  Father  to  send  the  Son  of  His  love  into 
such  a  combination,  that  He  might  afford  trans- 
gressors a  striking  proof  of  His  determination,  to 
maintain  all  combinations  which  are  formed  by  His 


212  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

creatures,  whatever  be  tlieir  cliaracter,  and  tliiis  to  give 
tliem  a  solemn  warning  of  tlie  conseqiiences  of  remain- 
ing in  combination  with  the  powers  of  darkness. 

Sec.  IV.  But  man  required  not  only  a  clear  and 
unmistakable  demonstration  of  God's  unalterable  de- 
termination to  maintain  and  uphold  the  powders  of 
being  in  their  full  and  unfettered  operation,  into  what- 
ever combination  they  may  be  brought,  until  they 
shall  have  effected  the  appropriate  result  of  that  com- 
bination, he  also  needed  to  see  how  his  guilt  is  to  be 
expiated. 

Man's  conscience  condemns  him,  he  dreads  the 
anger  of  God,  he  strives  to  propitiate  heaven,  he  feels 
that  justice  should  be  satisfied,  he  is  the  subject  of 
remorse,  he  recognises  and  acts  himself  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  punishing  transgression ;  hence  he  inflicts 
penance  on  himself,  he  offers  sacrifices  to  his  gods 
and  he  cries  aloud  to  Heaven  for  foro;iveness.  These 
are  facts  of  human  experience  which  no  one  acquainted 
with  history,  or  conversant  with  the  inner  workings 
of  his  own  heart,  will  question.  They  are,  moreover, 
the  genuine  utterances  of  man's  nature,  and  not  the 
false  conceptions  of  his  superstition  ;  for  while  super- 
stition may  be  general  in  its  facts,  it  is  never  universal 
in  its  characteristics.  How,  then,  is  the  burden  of 
guilt  to  be  lifted  off"  man's  spirit  ? 

Man's  nature  not  only  shows  to  him  that  suff'ering 
is  the  inevitable  accompaniment  of  sin,  but  his  con- 
stitution teaches  him  it  is  the  necessary  consequence 
of  it.    By  transgression  he  expels  God  from  the  throne 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  213 

of  his  lieart,  and  awakens  witliin  liim  the  dread  of 
Divine  wrath,  and  the  light  of  reason  suffices  to  con- 
vince him  that  moral  sufFerino^  has  its  orio'in  in  the 
very  nature  of  spiritual  being.  It  is  inconceivable 
that  a  rational  beino;  can  be  conscious  of  wrono;-doino; 
without  realising  dissatisfaction  with  himself  in  the 
realised  consciousness  of  his  wronc^.  This  necessary 
j)rinciple  of  spiritual  being  is  the  basis  or  groundwork 
of  the  condemnation  of  conscience,  and  the  non-per- 
ception of  a  way  of  escape  from  the  consciousness  of 
guilt  is  the  basis  of  remorse  ;  suffering,  then,  is  the 
necessity  of  the  deranged  condition  of  the  sinner's 
nature,  the  indispensable  requirement  of  his  disturbed 
constitution.  And  as  man  was  created  in  the  image 
of  God,  man's  constitution  must  be  the  reflex  of  the 
Divine,  and  the  necessity  of  suffering  in  man's  nature 
must  have  its  seat  in  the  deeper  depths  of  the  Divine. 
The  sinner's  dread  of  the  displeasure  of  God  is  no 
myth,  no  imaginary  fear  arising  out  of  an  inner  hal- 
lucination, but  the  real  utterance  of  the  condition  of 
his  nature.  The  sinner's  deep  and  enduring  desire, 
therefore,  for  a  change  in  the  manifestation  of  the 
Divine  is  not  a  mere  dream  of  his  relationship  with 
God ;  his  effort  to  remove  the  frown  by  replacing  the 
smile  of  the  Divine  countenance  is  no  groundless 
endeavour,  it  is  not  an  effort  uncalled  for  by  the 
sinner's  relationship  with  God.  Tliere  is  a  something 
in  the  eager  desire  and  earnest  endeavour  of  man  to 
effect  a  change  in  the  manifestation  of  the  Divine, 
something  to  justify  this  deep-heaved  sigh,  this  uni- 
versal cry  of  man's  immortal  spirit  for  a  change  in 


214  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

tlie  manifestation  of  God.  The  sacrifices,  penances, 
supplications  of  man  to  Heaven,  are  not  imcalled  for 
in  the  consciousness  of  his  state,  they  are  not  the  lie 
of  his  realised  condition  with  God,  not  this,  but  the 
unsophisticated  utterance  of  his  relative  state.  The 
sinner  dreads  the  frown  and  longs  to  see  a  smile  on 
the  countenance  of  God,  because  he  feels  from  his 
relation  to  God  that  a  change  in  the  manifestation  of 
the  Divine  is  absolutely  necessary  to  his  ai^proaching 
God  in  love.  Yes,  the  sinner's  desire  for  a  change 
in  the  manifestation  of  the  Divine,  is  the  genuine 
utterance  of  the  deep  necessity  of  man's  fallen  con- 
dition. 

But  this  needed  change  was  not  to  be  brought 
about  by  an  arbitrary  deed  of  God ;  if  it  were,  we 
cannot  conceive  as  to  why  it  w^as  ever  wanting. 
The  world  would  hardly  have  been  left  for  centuries 
to  suffer  the  dreaded  consciousness  of  guilt  if  by  a 
mere  volition  the  Father  could  have  changed  His 
frown  into  a  smile.  This  change  in  the  manifesta- 
tions of  the  Divine  required  more  than  a  mere  act  of 
will  in  God.  It  required  a  change  in  the  doings  and 
realisations  of  the  persons  in  the  Godhead. 

But  is  there  a  possibility  of  interchange  between 
the  persons  of  the  Godhead  ?  If  there  be  not,  then 
there  are  no  distinctions  in  the  Godhead  ;  no  Persons, 
and,  consequently,  no  possibility  of  communication 
between  the  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit;  but  if  there  is 
such  a  possibility,  might  not  the  Father,  when  the 
Son  stood  the  Representative  of  fallen  humanity, 
make  known  to   the    Sou  His   sense   of  displeasure 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  215 

ag^ainst  sin?  And  would  not  tlie  Avitlidrawal  from 
the  Son  of  the  sense  of  His  Father's  pleasure  while 
He  was  sufFerinir  from  man  and  devils  be  such  a 
manifestation  ? 

This,  it  appears  to  us,  would  be  a  befitting  ex- 
pression of  the  Father's  dis2:)leasure,  and  a  befitting 
realisation  of  the  sinner's  substitute,  for  it  would 
not  only  be  a  real  endurance  of  Divine  displeasure 
against  sin,  but  the  nearest  approach  which  the 
innocent  can  make  to  the  realisation  of  the  guilty. 
Is  not  the  felt  absence  of  God  the  first  consciousness 
of  the  sinning,  the  first  realisation  of  sinful  nature, 
and  is  not  the  absence  of  the  Divine  in  the  human 
the  source  and  beginning  of  all  sufi'ering,  conflict, 
and  struggle  of  fallen  humanity  ?  Such  a  transaction 
between  the  Father  and  the  Son  would  be  a  deed 
of  stupendous  majesty  and  grace,  well-fitted  to  appal 
tlie  universe  and  teach  the  sinner  the  awful  nature 
and  tremendous  consequence  of  his  sin.  It  would 
also  constitute  an  adequate  basis  for  a  change  in 
the  manifestation  of  the  Divine  to  the  world  and 
cancel  the  guilt  of  sin.  The  belief  in  such  a  deed 
of  Godhead  is  w^ell  fitted  to  draw  the  believer 
Godward.  And  nothing  short  of  the  belief  in  such  a 
transaction  between  the  Father  and  the  Son  can  fully 
account  for  the  cry  of  desertion  on  the  Cross.  There 
obviously  was,  in  the  suff'erings  of  Christ,  a  some- 
thing between  the  persons  of  the  Godhead  which  is 
the  ground  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin  and  confidence  of 
the  believer.  The  expiatory  and  substitutionary 
sacrifice  of  Christ's  death  lay  in  this  something,  and 


2i6  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

tlie  belief  of  this  fact  is  necessary  to  tlie  ■understanding 
of  tlie  cry  on  the  Cross,  and  the  mode  in  which  Christ 
approached  His  death. 

The  propitiatory  nature  of  Christ's  death  is  neces- 
sary to  meet  the  want  of  the  guilty  conscience  of 
man,  and  such  a  death  is  prefigured  in  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  the  Mosaic  economy.  The  laws  of  the 
Mosaic  dispensation  clearly  teach  that  the  trans- 
gressor could  escape  the  penal  consequences  of  his 
sin  only  through  the  death  of  a  victim  Avhicli  he 
slew,  and  the  priest  offered,  as  an  atonement  for  his 
sin.  And  the  same  law  shows  us  that  the  sins 
of  the  nation  were  pardoned  yearly,  when  the  High 
Priest  entered  into  the  Holy  of  Holies  with  the  Llood 
in  his  hand ;  not  that  these  sacrifices  in  themselves 
possessed  any  inherent  power  with  God  or  man — 
they  only  derived  their  value  from  their  prefigura- 
tion  of  the  sacrificial  death  of  the  Incarnate  One. 

There  are  two  remarkable  facts  in  connection 
with  the  death  of  Christ  which  arrest  our  attention, 
and  which  the  hypothesis  of  His  martyr  suffering  will 
not  account  for,  viz..  His  cry  of  desertion  on  the 
Cross,  and  His  prayer  in  the  Garden.  Christ  did, 
certainly,  in  His  death  testify  to  truth,  but  He  did 
more,  He  evolved  and  realised  truth  which  otherwise 
could  not  have  been  made  known.  The  cry  on 
the  Cross  involves  a  2food  deal  more  than  the  mere 
testifying  to  truth ;  nay,  the  cause  of  this  cry  is 
altogether  inconsistent  with  the  known  phenomena  of 
the  martyr's  death.  The  one  prominent  peculiarity 
of  the  martyr's  death  is  the  vivid  consciousness  of  tl)e 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  217 

Fatlier's  presence,  wliereas,  the  ciy  on  tlie  Cross 
indicates  desertion.  The  end  and  characteristic 
of  Christ's  sufferings  necessitated  the  belief  of  these 
being  more  than  human.  If  they  had  been  merely 
human,  they  must  have  been  far  less  than  the 
sufferinfi-s  of  manv  of  His  followers  who  suffered 
more  excruciating  agonies,  and  for  a  far  longer 
period  than  He  did,  and  in  that  case,  how  could  He, 
as  the  patient  endurer  of  sufferings,  have  been  to 
them  "  a  pattern  of  all  long-suffering." 

Christ's  sufferiuo-s  w^ere  human  and  divine,  both  in 
their  infliction  and  mode  of  endurance.  They  w^ere 
the  sufferino's  of  the  Incarnate  One,  and  w^ere  laid  on 
Him  directly  by  the  hand  of  His  Father  as  well  as  by 
the  wrath  of  His  enemies.  Christ  possessed  a  capacity 
for  sufferings  beyond  the  endurance  of  the  human,  for 
as  the  union  of  matter  and  sj)irit  in  the  nature  of 
man  produces  in  the  physical  of  his  being  a  capacity 
for  sufferino-  which  exists  not  in  mere  matter  or 
mere  spirit,  so  the  union  of  the  human  and  divine 
natures  in  the  person  of  Christ  produced  a  capacity 
for  sufferino;',  and  necessitated  a  keenness  of  ano;uish 
which  neither  man  nor  God  can  experience.  In  their 
infliction  Christ's  sufferings  were  human,  devilish, 
and  divine.  Man  assailed  the  Son  of  God  with  his 
fiercest  rage  ;  the  prince  of  this  world,  in  the  hour  and 
power  of  darkness,  came  upon  Him  with  all  the 
malice  of  his  infernal  hate,  and  the  Father  forsook 
Him  in  the  extremity  of  His  grief,  and  no  martyr 
hypothesis  will  account  for  this  last  and  bitterest 
element   of  Christ's    suffering.       The    only   rational 


2iS  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

iiccoimt  of  this,  and,  indeed,  of  the  other  characteristics 
of  His  suffering  is,  that  He  died  the  substitute  of 
sinners,  i.e.,  in  expiation  of  their  sin.  The  Father 
forsook  Him  in  the  manifestation  of  His  displeasure 
against  sin,  and  laid  on  Him  the  iniquity  of  human 
transOTCSsion. 

Nor  will  the  hypothesis  of  a  mere  martyr  suffering 
account  for  the  manner  in  which  Christ  approached 
His  death.  The  only  principle  on  which  we  can 
satisfactorily  account  for  the  trouble  of  His  soul,  and 
His  prayer  that  if  it  were  possible  the  cup  might  pass 
from  Him,  is  the  vicarious  nature  of  His  death.  In 
the  Garden,  and  on  the  Cross,  Christ  occupied  the 
position  and  performed  the  functions  of  tlie  great 
High  Priest  of  the  human  race  ;  and  this  fact  not 
only  accounts  for  the  nature  of  His  sufferings,  but 
likewise  for  the  manner  in  which  He  approached 
them.  It  is  no  part  of  a  noble  nature  to  be  indif- 
ferent to  suffering,  nor  is  it  any  part  of  a  holy  life  to 
be  regardless  of  the  assaults  of  spiritual  wickedness, 
nor  of  the  filial  heart  to  be  unconcerned  about  a 
father's  desertion  especially  in  the  moments  it  is  felt 
most  desirable,  and  Jesus  was  fully  sensible  of  the 
reeoilingfs  of  His  nature  from  the  awful  realisations  of 
His  death,  and  as  He  was  acting  in  the  room  of  man- 
kind. He  gives  utterance  to  the  shrinkings  of  His 
nature  in  order  that  He  might  impress  the  minds  of 
men  with  an  idea  of  the  tremendous  character  of  the 
sufferinors  He  endured  in  their  stead.  In  this  view  of 
the  solemn  transaction  we  see  that  Jesus  offered  this 
remarkable  prayer,  not  on  His  own,  but,  as  at  the 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  219 

grave  of  Lazarus,  "because  of  the  people,"  that  they 
miirht  believe  that  the  Father  had  sent  Him. 

It  was  not  then  the  unconditional  desire  of  our 
Lord  that  the  cup  should  pass  from  Him.  If  by 
"  luill "  Ave  understand  fixed  'purpose,  unqualified 
resolve,  then  we  say  it  could  not  have  been  Christ's 
will  that  the  cup  should  pass  from  Him.  But  if  by 
"  ivilV^  we  understand  sentient  desire,  reluctance  of 
nature  to  undergo  repulsive  and  severe  suffering,  then 
we  affirm  it  was,  and  could  not  but  have  been,  His 
will  that  the  cup  should  pass  from  Him.  This  two- 
fold form  of  the  term  "  will "  emj^loyed  in  the  prayer 
in  the  garden  is  not  a  distinction  without  a  difference, 
but  a  distinction  which  is  found  in  the  nature  of 
things,  and  pointed  out  to  us  in  the  original  language 
of  the  prayer.  A  literal  rendering  of  St.  Luke's  ver- 
sion would  read  thus :  Father,  if  it  be  in  accordance 
with  Thy  council  {^ovXei),  remove  this  cup  from  Me ; 
nevertheless,  not  My  inclination  (OeXij/xd),  but  Thy  will 
{/3ov\7]/jid)  be  clone.  This  difference  between  the  terms 
rendered  "  will "  in  this  translation  affords,  if  we  mis- 
take not,  the  key  to  the  solution  of  the  difficulties  of 
this  prayer.  It  was  the  fixed,  unwavering  purpose  of 
Jesus  to  lay  down  His  life  in  expiation  of  the  sins 
of  men,  and  thus  to  drink  this  cup  in  their  stead. 
It  was,  indeed,  the  desire  of  His  sentient  nature,  but 
it  could  not  have  been  the  purpose  of  His  mind,  to 
have  the  cu]3  removed  from  Him.  He  had  volun- 
tarily undertaken  to  drink  this  cup,  and  for  this  end 
He  had  come  into  the  world,  saying :  "  Lo,  I  come 
to  do  Thy  will,  0  God."     Eeferring  to  the  drinking 


2  20  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIIE. 

of  tliis  cup  He  had  said :  ''I  have  a  blood}^  baptism 
to  be  baptized  with,  and  how  am  I  straightened  till 
it  be  accomplished."  For  attempting  to  persuade 
Him  from  drinking  "this  cup"  He  sharply  rebuked 
Peter,  saying  :  "  Get  thee  behind  Me,  Satan,  for  thou 
savourest  not  the  tilings  that  be  of  God,  but  those 
that  be  of  men ; "  and  advancing  to  drink  tliis  cup, 
He  steadfastly  "set  His  face  towards  Jerusalem,"  and 
came  up  to  the  city  for  that  express  purpose.  And 
that  there  might  be  a  lasting  memorial  in  His 
Church  of  His  unquenchable  love  in  drinking 
''tliis  ciqj''  He  had  but  a  few  moments  l)efore 
instituted  the  rite  of  the  communion  feast.  It  was 
not,  then.  His  unqualified  prayer  that  "this  cup" 
should  pass  from  Him.  No,  His  fixed,  unalterable 
j)urpose  was  to  drink  it. 

But  if  by  "  will "  we  understand  inclination  of 
nature,  reluctance  of  sentient  emotion,  to  undero-o 
agonizing,  awful,  and  repulsive  suffering,  then  it  was, 
and  could  not  but  have  been.  His  will  that  "this 
cup"  should  pass  from  Him.  His  sufferings  in 
drinking  "this  cup"  were  aj^palling,  and  in  their 
very  nature  thev  must  have  been  revoltinoj  to  Him. 
His  keen,  sensitive  organism  could  not  but  have 
shrunk  from  them,  His  pure,  spotless  spirit  could 
not  but  have  recoiled  from  contact  with  the  foul 
spirits  of  darkness,  and  His  filial  heart  could  not  but 
have  dreaded  even  a  momentary  desertion  of  His 
Father.  But  it  may  be  said,  allowing  that  His 
sufferings  were  repulsive  to  Him,  He  ought  to  have 
considered  His  voluntary  undertaking  of  them,  and 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  221 

tliat  it  was  weakness  on  His  part  to  give  such 
prominent  display  to  His  reluctance  of  nature,  and 
that  in  doing  so  He  showed  a  want  of  true  heroism. 
The  very  reverse  of  this  is  the  case.  True  heroism 
does  not  consist  in  insensibility  to  suffering,  but  in 
the  magnanimous  endurance  of  it.  The  individual 
who,  in  the  view  of  suffering,  and  in  the  clear  per- 
ception of  its  character  and  revolting  nature  for  the 
accomplishment  of  an  important  end,  voluntarily 
enters  upon  its  endurance,  displays  a  nobler  heroism, 
and  manifests  a  truer  readiness  to  undergo  such 
suffering,  than  he  who,  not  perceiving  its  nature, 
blindly  rushes  upon  its  endurance.  To  display,  how- 
ever, this  instinctive  shrinking  of  nature  when  its 
exhibition  could  serve  no  important  end,  would 
certainly  be  unworthy  of  the  character  of  an  illus- 
trious and  generous  sufferer.  But  when  such  an 
exhibition  was  necessary  to,  and  even  formed  an 
essential  part  of,  the  work  he  was  accomplishing, 
then,  so  far  from  being  inconsistent  with  the  dignity 
of  His  character,  or  incompatible  with  the  principle 
of  vicarious  suffering,  it  was  only  the  more  worthy 
of  Him,  and  necessitated  by  the  conditions  of  His 
sufferings,  and  only  the  more  strikingly  displayed 
the  true  dignity  of  His  character ;  for,  though  it  laid 
Him  open  to  a  momentary  suspicion  of  weakness,  it 
only  the  more  clearly  exhibited  the  true  readiness 
of  His  heart  to  comply  with  all  that  was  necessary 
to  the  complete  accomplishment  of  the  high  end  of 
His  undertaking. 

It  was  necessary  that  the  great  Eedeemer  should 


2  22  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

sliow  that  tlie  sufferino-s  He  endured  for  the  redemp- 
tion  of  men   were    of  an    appalling    and    revolting 
character,  and  that  it  was  with  no  stoical  indifference 
that  He  bore  them.     It  was  important  that  it  should 
be  made  clear  that  nothing  but  zeal  for  His  Father's 
glory,  love  for  the  souls  of  men,  and  the  ascertained 
conviction  that   the   salvation  of  men  was  possible 
only  through  His   suffering  in   their  stead,  that  He 
could   be    induced   to   undergo  such  suffering.     His 
sufferings  were,  and  could  from   their   very   nature 
only  be,  known  to  Himself ;  and  if  He  had  passed 
through  them  without  giving  a  display  of  His  reluct- 
ance to  undergo  them,  it  might  have  been  supposed 
that  they  were  trivial  in  their  nature,  and  superficial 
in  their  character,  and  thus  the  true  extent  of  His 
suffering   for  sin,  His   readiness  to  suffer  in  the  room 
of  sinners^   and   the    depth   and    tenderness  of   His 
Father's   love   in     "delivering    Him    up"    to    such 
suffering,  would  have  remained  unknown.     In  dying, 
the  "  Just  in  the  room  of  the  unjust,"  it  became  Him 
to  afford  a  striking  display  of  the  awful  nature  and 
consequences    of  sin,    to   show   to   the    universe    of 
intelligence  that   God  could  maintain  His  sway  only 
by  taking  vengeance  on  sin,  and  that  this  vengeance 
must  fall  either  upon  the  sinner  or  his  substitute,  and 
that  no  other  substitute  than  the  Son  of  God  Himself 
could  be  found.     The  sinner  imagines  that  he   may 
trangress  the   law  and  yet  escape  the  penalty  of  his 
sin,  that  God  will  not  be  strict  to  mark  iniquity  or  to 
punish  him  for  his  sin,  that  it  is  the  easiest  possible 
thino;  with  God  to  overlook  sin  and  secure  the  sinner 


PO  WE  R  OF  RE  CONCILIA  TION.  223 

against  tlie  consequences  of  Lis  transgression.  God, 
on  the  otlier  hand,  well  knows  that  sin  and  suffering 
are  inseparably  connected,  and  that  it  is  not  possible 
even  for  Himself  to  deliver  the  sinner  from  the  con- 
sequences of  his  transgression,  save  only  by  delivering 
him  from  the  love  and  practice  of  sin,  and  that  He 
could  do  this  only  by  laying  the  weight  of  His  dis- 
pleasure against  sin  on  the  Substitute  of  sinners.  It 
was  then  incumbent  on  the  Eedeemer  in  suffering,  "the 
Just  in  the  room  of  the  unjust,"  to  show  to  the  world 
that  the  sufferings  He  endured  were  of  an  awful  and 
revolting  character,  and  that  the  consequences  of  sin 
were  indeed  tremendous. 

And  could  He  have  taught  the  world  this  lesson  at 
a  more  suitable  time,  or  in  a  more  befitting  manner, 
than  by  presenting  this  prayer  to  His  Father  as  He 
entered  upon  the  sufferings  of  His  vicarious  death  ? 
The  period  of  our  Lord's  public  ministry  had  now 
drawn  to  a  close.  In  that  ministry  He  had  frequently 
spoken  of  the  character  and  consequences  of  sin,  and 
of  the  necessity  of  His  death  in  order  to  the  salvation 
of  men.  He  had  often  indicated  His  readiness  and 
intention  to  lay  down  His  life  for  the  life  of  the 
world,  and  of  His  Father's  love  in  giving  His  Son  to 
be  the  Saviour  of  men.  But  these  solemn  truths, 
even  as  stated  by  Him,  made  little  or  no  impression 
on  His  age.  And  now  that  the  hour  appointed  for  the 
laying  down  of  His  life  had  arrived,  as  the  great 
High  Priest  of  the  human  race.  He  entered  upon  His 
sacerdotal  work,  and  prepared  Himself  for  offering 
the  one  great  Sacrifice  for  sin.     Having  in  the  upper 


2  24  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

room  prepared  His  disciples  for  the  solemn  event 
awaiting  tliem,  He  retires  to  the  ]\Iount  of  Olives, 
not  alone,  as  He  was  wont,  but  with  His  discijDles, 
and  having  entered  the  garden,  He  withdrew  from 
the  disciples,  and,  at  the  distance  of  a  stone's  cast, 
in  solemn  attitude.  He  presents  to  His  Father  the 
prayer,  "that  if  it  were  possible  the  cup  might  pass 
from  Him."  The  well-beloved  Son,  the  object  of 
His  Father's  ineffable  love  and  comjilaceut  delight, 
knowing  that  there  was  nothing  that  it  was  possible 
for  His  Father  to  grant  that  would  be  withheld  from 
His  asking,  acting  in  the  nature  and  on  the  behalf 
of  men.  He  comes  in  the  solemn  attitude  of  prayer 
between  God  and  man  :  and  wdiile  His  soul  is  wruuo- 
with  bitter  anguish,  and  His  body  racked  with 
agonizing  pangs,  instead  of  suppressing  the  felt 
risings  of  reluctance.  He  gives  vent  to  the  feelings 
of  His  nature  in  a  solemn,  affectionate  appeal  to  His 
Father's  heart,  beseeching  Him,  that  if  it  was  possible 
for  His  infinite  wisdom  and  fatherly  love  to  divine 
another  method  whereby  sinners  might  be  saved,  to 
adopt  that  method,  and  rescue  Him  from  the  suffer- 
ings which  were  overwhelming  His  soul,  yet,  at  the 
same  time,  declaring  His  readiness,  if  no  other  sub- 
stitution could  be  found  for  human  transo-ression,  to 
suffer  in  the  room  of  men.  And  thus,  on  the  one 
hand.  He  affords  to  His  Father  t]ie  oj^portunity  of 
publishing  to  the  universe  the  momentous  truth,  that 
sin  cannot  go  unpunished  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
shows  the  wondrous  love  of  God  to  sinners,  and  the 
intense  desire  of  His  heart  that  they  should  be  rescued 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  225 

from  tlieir  sins.  That  this  was  the  great  object  of 
the  Saviour  in  presenting  this  prayer  to  His  Father, 
and  not  the  exhibition  of  a  momentary  weakness  in 
shrinking  back  from  the  performance  of  what  He  had 
voluntarily  undertaken,  is  manifest  from  the  prayer 
itself  and  the  manner  in  which  it  was  presented. 
The  prayer  consists  of  two  parts  :  the  one  the  con- 
ditional expression  'of  the  felt  desire  of  His  sentient 
nature,  the  other  the  unconditional  utterance  of  the 
fixed  ]3urpose  of  His  mind,  and  the  unalterable  resolu- 
tion of  His  heart.  The  conditional  is  uttered  once, 
the  unconditional  is  expressed  twice.  The  conditional 
is  expressed,  first,  in  order  that  its  conditional  char- 
acter may  be  the  more  apparent  in  its  being  followed 
by  the  unconditional,  uttered  twice,  and  more  impres- 
sively expressed.  And  in  order  to  give  the  prayer 
the  greater  solemnity,  it  is  presented  thrice. 

The  event  of  the  Garden  and  of  the  Cross  is  one  of 
great  solemnity,  an  event  which  in  importance  rises 
far  above  any  other  of  God's  known  doings  to  man. 
The  scene  befits  the  grandeur  of  the  occasion,  the 
period  is  the  fulness  of  the  times,  th'e  hour,  the 
moments  of  midnight  and  noon.  While  the  prayer 
is  being  ofi"ered  man  is  sunk  in  sleep  and  buried  in 
indifi'erence,  unable  to  penetrate  the  deep  design  of 
the  solemn  transaction  ;  three,  and  only  three,  are 
permitted  to  witness  the  presentation  of  the  prayer, 
that  they  afterwards  may  publish  it  to  the  world  ; 
but  the  spirits  above,  whose  delight  is  the  study  of 
redemption,  doubtless  beheld  the  wondrous  event  as 
they  stooped  from  their  lofty  seats   to  contemplate 


2  26  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

the  solemn  transaction.  One,  and  only  one,  event 
occurs  on  the  mountain  slope ;  one,  and  only  one, 
voice  of  prayer  is  heard  to  break  the  solemn  stillness 
of  midnight :  it  is  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God.  His 
soul  wrung  with  unutterable  pangs.  His  body  batlied 
in  its  own  blood,  tenderly  and  affectionately  entreat- 
ing His  Father,  that  if  it  was  within  the  com^Dass  of 
His  boundless  wisdom  and  Almighty  power  to 
devise  a  method  whereby  sinners  could  be  saved, 
and  He  rescued  from  His  sufferings,  to  adopt  that 
method ;  and  what  is  the  Father's  response  to  that 
earnest  and  affecting  petition  ?  Is  all  Heaven  in 
motion  ?  Are  its  hosts  astir  ?  Do  they  descend  in 
innumerable  myriads  and  haste  to  the  rescue  of 
their  Lord  ?  Is  there  a  voice  heard  from  the  most 
excellent  glory,  exclaiming,  *'  This  is  my  beloved 
Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased."  I  will  rescue 
Him,  be  the  consequences  what  they  may.  No  voice 
is  heard  from  the  excellent  glory.  One,  and  only 
one,  messenger  descends  from  the  Courts  above, 
and  he  is  commissioned  not  to  take  the  cup  from 
the  trembling  hand  of  Emmanuel,  but  to  strengthen 
Him  to  drink  it  to  its  dregs — thus  showing  that, 
while  the  prayer  was  neither  unheard  nor  unheeded, 
the  petition  could  not  be  granted  if  sinners  were 
to  be  saved.  And  while  the  desertion  of  the  Father 
is  being  realised  by  the  Son,  Nature,  at  the  hour 
of  noon-day  brightness,  in  sympathy  with  her 
suffering  Lord,  attires  herself  in  robes  of  darkness, 
the  sun  clothes  himself  in  sackcloth,  the  earth  quakes, 
the   rocks   rend,  the  graves  open,   the   veil   of  the 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  227 

temple  rends  from  to23  to  bottom,  devils  exult,  men 
blasjDlieme,  and  tlie  Father  treats  the  Son  as  He 
never  treated  Him  before.  This  was,  indeed,  an 
appalling  hour  of  the  manifestation  of  the  Divine. 
That  the  Father  should  lay  on  the  Son,  that  the  Son 
should  bear  the  expression  of  the  Divine  displeasure 
ao-ainst  sin,  that  the  Spirit  should  sustain  the  Son  in 
the  endurance  of  the  load  of  human  guilt,  is  the 
mystery  of  God's  love  to  men.  How  great  the 
majesty,  how  amazing  the  condescension,  how  won- 
drous the  grace  of  the  Father  in  giving  the  Son, 
of  the  Son  in  coming  to  bear  the  guilt  of  men,  and 
of  the  Spirit  in  upholding  Him  while  He  poured  out 
His  soul  unto  death,  that  a  basis  might  be  made  for  a 
chance  in  the  manifestation  of  the  Divine  to  the 
human,  and  to  invite  man  to  come  near  to  God  to 
receive  the  forgiveness  of  his  sin.  "  Without  con- 
troversy great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness,  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh,  justified  in  the  Spirit,  seen 
of  Angels,  preached  unto  the  Gentiles,  believed  on 
in  the  world,  received  up  into  glory." 

The  Scriptures  clearly  teach  the  doctrine  of  for- 
giveness of  sin,  through  the  vicarious  sufferings  of 
a  substitute.  The  disclosure  of  this  truth  to  the 
world  was  the  object  of  the  ceremonial  of  Judaism. 
In  the  camp  of  Israel,  the  unclean  were  separated 
from  the  conorreo^ation  for  a  definite  time,  and  until 
a  sacrifice  was  ofi'ered  on  their  behalf.  When  an 
Israelite  transgressed  any  of  the  laws  of  Moses,  he 
was  excluded  from  the  congregation  and  deprived  of 
his  civil  rights,  until  he  brought  the  appointed  sacri- 


22  8  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

fice  to  the  priest,  and  when  the  priest  had  atoned 
for  his  sin  and  pronounced  it  forgiven,  he  was  then 
restored  to  his  privileges  again,  as  a  member  of  the 
commonwealth.  The  presentation  of  sacrifice  on 
behalf  of  the  nation  on  the  great  day  of  atonement ; 
the  confession  of  the  sins  of  the  people  by  the  High 
Priest,  and  the  laying  on  of  his  hands  on  the  head  of 
the  scape  goat  to  be  led  away  into  the  land  of  for- 
getfulness,  clearly  taught  the  Jews  to  look  to  the 
sacrifice  of  another,  as  the  ground  of  the  forgiveness 
of  their  sins. 

Our  Lord  clearly  taught  men  to  view  His  death  as 
a  sacrifice  for  their  sin,  and  His  apostles  did  the 
same  thing.  The  attempt  to  expunge  the  doctrine  of 
substitution  from  the  pages  of  revelation  is  altogether 
hopeless.  This  doctrine  is  needed  to  meet  the  deep 
necessities  of  the  fallen  spirit  of  man,  and  nothing 
short  of  it  will  allay  his  fear  of  Divine  displeasure 
and  inspire  him  with  love  to  God.  Man  cannot  be 
at  rest  in  the  view  of  wrath  manifested  against  him  ; 
and,  therefore,  in  every  age  and  region  of  the  globe, 
the  sinner  has  sought  to  avert  by  sacrifice,  the 
vengeance  of  Heaven.  He  has  laboured  with  all  his 
might  to  effect  a  change  in  God,  and  the  idea  of 
efiecting  this  change,  and  of  securing  deliverance 
through  the  sujQfering  of  a  substitute,  has  everywhere 
haunted  the  spirit  of  man.  And  why  ?  either  from 
an  instinct  of  nature,  or  the  tradition  of  primitive 
revelation. 

The  sacrifice  of  Christ,  while  chiefly,  was  not  only 
for  man,  nor  merely  for  man  in  this  life.      It  is  the 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  229 

evolufciou  of  tlie  deepest  principles  of  the  Godhead, 
and  discloses  such  gr^andeurs  of  the  Uncreated 
Essence,  such  mysteries  of  the  Infinite  and  Eternal, 
as  will  require  the  study  of  the  everlasting  ages 
to  learn  its  ever  brightening  glories,  and  this  study 
will  ever  occupy  the  attention  of  all  the  loyal  intelli- 
gence of  creation,  and  reward  them  with  the  purest 
and  most  thrilling  emotions  of  an  ever-deepening 
gratitude  and  adoring  love,  as  they  ever  and  anon 
discover  more  and  more  of  the  deep  things  of 
God. 

Sec.  V.  Man  further  needed  to  have  an  opportu- 
nity granted  him  of  displaying  his  love  and  gratitude 
to  God. 

AVithout  the  opportunity  of  displaying  devotedness 
to  the  person  of  his  sovereign,  and  patriotism  to  his 
country,  the  pardoned  rebel  may  have  ground  to 
imagine  that  he  is  suspected  of  still  harbouring  in  his 
breast  the  sentiments  of  disloyalty,  but  if  an  oppor- 
tunity of  showing  loyalty  and  devotedness  be  afforded 
and  embraced  by  him,  then  will  he  be  deemed  worthy 
of  his  pardon,  and  become  an  honour  to  his  nation. 
He  will  win  the  admiration  of  his  countrymen,  and 
feel  at  ease  in  the  confidence  of  his  prince.  And 
so  with  the  pardoned  sinner,  he  requires  an  oppor- 
tunity of  displaying  his  devotedness  and  proving  his 
zeaL 

From  the  fact  that  the  love  of  wellbeing  is  the 
deepest  principle  of  humanity,  it  follows  that  the 
desire  of  glory  must  be  essential  to  man.     And,  thus. 


2  30  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LiFE. 

tlie  sinner  must  not  only  perceive  an  honourable 
outlet  from  the  region  of  despair,  but  the  saint  must 
see  a  glorious  condition  of  life  opening  up  before  him 
ere  he  can  be  at  peace  with  God,  and  satisfied  with 
his  new  condition  of  life.  As  his  life  becomes  elevated, 
it  must  have  the  Godlike  element  in  higher  measure 
to  feed  upon.  The  love  of  glory  being  innate  to  man, 
it  aj)pears  in  all  his  actions ;  and  what  the  believer 
needs  for  his  growtli  in  grace,  is  not  the  annihilation 
of  this  love,  but  the  coveting  "  earnestly  the  better 
gifts,"  pursuing  "  the  more  excellent  way."  To 
imagine  that  the  humiliation  of  human  nature  is 
acceptable  to  God,  is  to  misunderstand  His  work  and 
His  merciful  design.  It  is  the  "  carnal  mind  "  in  man 
that  is  to  be  humiliated  before  God.  And  this  is 
done  in  the  faith  of  that  grace  which  recognises  the 
inherent  dignity  of  man,  the  glorious  character  of  the 
life  of  God  in  his  soul,  and  the  lofty  destiny  of 
humanity  in  Christ  Jesus.  The  great  Apostle  utters 
not  one  word  in  condemnation  of  the  cherished  desire 
for  distinction,  in  reference  to  the  competitors  in  the 
Olympic  games,  but  exclaims  :  "  They  do  it  to  obtain 
a  corruptible  crown,  but  we  an  incorruptible."  The 
believer  is  to  live  in  the  perception  that  it  is  not  in 
destroying,  but  in  consecrating  the  love  of  glory  that 
he  live  acceptably  to  God.  And  he  must  be  made  to 
understand  that  it  is  not  so  much  in  the  deeds  of  the 
outer,  as  in  the  attainments  of  the  inner  life,  that  true 
glory  is  to  be  acquired  ;  and  that  this  glory  is  attained 
not  in  feeding  the  heart  on  vanities,  but  in  securing 
spiritual   possessions    worthy   of   man's    nature    and 


PO  WER  OF  RE  CONCILIA  TION.  2  3 1 

circumstances.  The  believer  must  be  made  to  see 
and  feel  that  "  he  that  is  slow  to  anger  is  better  than 
the  mighty,  and  he  that  ruleth  his  own  spirit  than 
he  that  taketh  a  city."  The  pursuit  of  glory  in  the 
fellowship  of  the  gospel  is  not  incompatible  with  the 
humility,  meekness,  and  gentleness  of  Christ,  but  in 
keeping  with  His  character.  This  is  clearly  seen  in 
the  life  of  Jesus  and  of  His  great  servant  Paul ;  and 
when  realised  by  the  believer,  will  ever  be  found  to  be 
a  present  power  against  backsliding,  and  a  stimulus 
in  the  progress  of  holiness ;  and  in  revealing  to  the 
Church  the  different  degrees  of  glory  in  store  for  the 
redeemed,  the  gospel  meets  a  real  want  in  man.  The 
glory  of  the  Son  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father  is 
an  evidence  of  the  approbation  of  the  Father,  and 
of  His  determination  to  reward  the  self-sacrificing 
devotedness  of  the  Son.  God,  the  Fatlier,  admires 
and  delights  in  the  self-sacrifice  of  the  Son,  and  of 
this  He  hath  given  assurance,  in  that  He  hath  raised 
Him  from  the  dead. 

Christ,  in  His  intercourse  with  men  in  the  world, 
bas  shown  what  humanity  in  union  with  Divinity 
can  accomplish.  And  Christ  in  heaven,  to  the  eye 
of  faith,  exhibits  what  humanity  in  unity  with 
Divinity  may  become.  Christ  the  Incarnate  One, 
has  gone  to  heaven  that  He  might  appear  in  the 
presence  of  God  for  us,  and  there  secure  for  us  all 
that  is  necessary  to  the  believer  in  his  upward  ascent. 
The  representative  character  of  Christ  in  His  work 
must  not  be  lost  sight  of.  It  was  in  love  to  man 
that  Christ  became  incarnate,  it  was  in  the  room  of 


2  32  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

man  tliat  He  died  upon  the  cross,  and  it  is  in  the 
stead  of  man  that  He  lives  and  reigns  in  heaven. 
And  to  allure  man  to  the  imitation  of  Himself,  He 
makes  kno\\Ti  to  us  His  position  in  glory,  as  the 
reward  of  His  self-sacrificing  life  and  death. 

And,  where  amid  the  ranks  of  created  beings,  where, 
amid  the  various  conditions  of  finite  existence,  is 
exaltation,  glory,  and  bliss,  equal  to  Christ's  to  be 
found  ?  Where  is  glory  so  bright,  honour  so  pure, 
or  example  so  perfect  ?  If  we  take  our  stand  in  the 
high  summit  of  revealed  truth,  contemplate  in  the 
visions  of  faith,  soar  on  the  wings  of  thought  through 
the  vastness  of  space,  and  survey  with  rapid  sweep 
and  keen  glance  the  numerous  and  varied  forms 
of  existence,  we  can  discover  no  nature  so  receptive 
of  the  Divine,  so  susceptible  of  the  indwelling  of  the 
Infinite,  so  near  in  life  and  likeness  to  God,  as 
humanity  in  the  person  of  God's  Son.  We  behold,  in 
Christ  exalted  to  the  right  hand  of  God,  the  human 
in  a  oneness  of  personality  and  of  life  with  the 
Divine  ;  we  behold  on  the  throne  of  the  iiniverse, 
amid  the  splendour  of  the  infinite  majesty  and  the 
bright  efiulgence  of  uncreated  light,  our  own  human- 
ity there ;  by  faith  we  perceive  the  highest  reward 
of  self-sacrificing  devotedness  to  the  glory  of  God 
in  the  wellbeinir  of  man  :  and  behold  the  consumma- 
tion  of  the  Father's  desire,  the  perfect  achievement 
of  the  deep  designs  of  the  Eternal  Council ;  for  what 
do  we  see  in  the  presence  of  the  Father,  in  the  glory 
of  exaltation  in  the  person  of  God's  own  Son,  but 
our  own  humanity,  tlie  same  human  nature  that  we 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  233 

ourselves  possess,  and  why  is  the  Son  in  yonder  glory 
and  bliss  of  His  immortal  reign  ?  Why,  but  to  show 
to  us  what  we  may  attain  to,  and  to  animate  us 
to  strive  after  a  share  in  His  glorious  and  satisfying 
fellowship  with  the  Father.  And  the  way  we  are  to 
seek  after  this  glory  and  bliss,  is  to  yield  ourselves  up 
to  the  striving  spirit,  and  to  co-operate  with  Him  in 
His  invoking  operations.  It  is  the  pursuit  of  the 
glory  of  the  inner  life,  the  experience  of  communion 
with  the  Son,  the  looking  to  God  through  Him,  that 
leads  to  the  deeper  realisations  of  the  Divine.  It  was 
on  her,  who,  through  sitting  at  Jesus'  feet  drinking 
in  His  wisdom,  was  prepared  to  anoint  Him,  that 
Christ  pronounced  the  highest  encomium  He  can 
utter  in  the  ear  of  man,  "  She  hath  done  what  she 
could  !  "  It  is  in  living  the  life  of  fellowship  with  the 
Divine  that  we  most  effectually  glorify  God,  and  that 
we  become  most  efficiently  prepared  for  the  dis- 
tinctions above.  It  is  working  out  what  the  Spirit 
w^orks  in  us  to  will  and  to  do,  that  we  alone  glorify 
God  and  ourselves. 

Sec.  YI.  But  man  needed  not  only  an  opportunity 
of  displaying  his  love  and  devotedness  to  God,  but 
likewise  to  have  exhibited  to  him  wherein  the  energy 
of  the  Divine  life  consists.  In  the  incarnation  of 
Christ  we  have  set  before  us  the  infinite  capacity 
of  humanity  for  union  and  communion  with  Divinity, 
and  the  eager  desire  of  the  Divine  to  possess  the 
human.  In  the  Incarnate  One,  we  perceive  the 
limitless  capacity  of  the  human,  and  the  impossibility 


234  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

of  its  repose  in  anything  short  of  the  ind^Yelling  of 
God,  hence  the  restless  condition  of  humanity  in  any, 
or  all  the  varied  states  of  life  on  earth,  devoid  of  the 
indwelling  of  God,  In  the  Incarnate  One  we  behold 
the  human  and  Divine  in  a  oneness  of  personality 
and  life,  a  proof  of  the  caj)acity  of  the  human  for  the 
indwelling  of  the  Divine.  In  Jesus  Christ  we  per- 
ceive the  human  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  highest 
dignity  the  created  is  capable  of;  in  Him  we  perceive 
the  infinite  susceptibility  of  the  human,  for  j^rogress 
in  its  reception  of  the  Divine ;  and  in  Him  we  not 
only  behold  the  susceptibility  of  the  human  for  glory 
and  bliss,  but  its  actual  possession  of  the  one  per- 
sonality, one  subjectivity  with  the  Divine.  The 
incarnation  thus  meets  and  satisfies  the  deep  yearn- 
ings and  the  longing  aspirations  of  the  human  soul. 
In  the  fallen  condition  of  man,  sinful  man  cannot 
give  up  the  craving  of  his  immortal  soul  for  union 
and  communion  with  the  Infinite ;  hence  the  incarna- 
tions of  the  East  in  the  earlier  conditions  of  man's 
existence,  and  the  deifications  of  the  West,  in  the 
later  struo-o-les  of  man  to  meet  the  felt  wants  of  his 
nature  and  life,  likewise  the  pantheistic  tendencies  of 
the  philosophic  speculations  of  this  age.  Man  under- 
stands not  the  conditions  of  his  peace,  and  the  nature 
of  his  union  and  communion  with  God,  as  realisable 
only  through  the  vital  incarnation  of  the  Divine  in 
the  human,  hence  arises  the  necessity  of  its  being 
brought  very  near  to  him,  and  clearly  disclosed 
in  Jesus  Christ,  the  Lord  of  life  and  glory. 

But  how  was  it  that  Jesus  Christ  possessed  and 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  235 

perfected  humanity  ?  This  is  an  inquiry  of  great 
importance,  and  especially  in  the  p)resent  day.  The 
answer  is  that  it  was  as  the  Incarnate  One.  He 
distinctly  announced  that  He  thought  nothing  and 
did  nothing  but  what  He  saw  with  the  Father. 
His  teaching  was  that  we  must  be  in  order  to  do, 
and  not  do  in  order  to  be.  "  A  good  tree  cannot 
bring  forth  evil  fruit ;  neither  can  a  corrupt  tree  bring 
forth  good  fruit."  "For  every  tree  is  known  by  his 
own  fruit ;  for  of  thorns  men  do  not  gather  figs,  nor 
of  a  bramble-bush  gather  they  grapes.  A  good  man, 
out  of  the  good  treasure  of  his  heart,  bringeth  forth 
that  which  is  good ;  and  an  evil  man,  out  of  the  evil 
treasure  of  his  heart,  bringeth  forth  that  which  is  evil : 
for  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh." 
Humanity  must  be  possessed  either  by  the  Divine,  or 
the  diabolic  spirit,  hence  the  necessity  of  the  indwell- 
ing of  God.  The  deep  necessity  of  humanity  lies  in 
the  direction  of  this  indwelling.  And  it  is  only  as 
man  realises  it  that  he  glorifies  God,  promotes  the 
well  being  of  creation,  and  attains  to  the  true  end  of 
his  existence.  ^ 

It  was  only  as  the  Incarnate  One  that  Jesus  Christ 
could  overcome  the  wicked  one,  it  was  only  as  the 
Incarnate  One  that  He  could  rise  from  the  death  of 
sin  and  ascend  to  glory  above.  By  His  incarnation 
the  Lord  of  Glory  took  the  human  into  union  with 
the  Divine.  By  the  incarnation  of  His  life  and  death 
He  grappled  with,  and  overcame  the  enemies  of  God ; 
and  as  the  Incarnate  One,  he  triumphed  over  all 
opposition,    in    order   that    man   might    realise    the 


236  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

necessity,  and  close  in  with  incarnation.  It  is  only 
as  men  believe  in,  realise  the  necessity  of,  and  act 
on  the  conviction  of  incarnation,  that  they  can  live 
the  Christian  life.  If  they  attempt  to  live  this  life 
on  any  other  principle  than  the  felt  necessity  of  co- 
operating with  the  indwelling  spirit  of  the  Living 
God,  they  are  sm^e  to  fail.  It  was  in  seeing  the 
Father,  living  by  the  Father,  and  holding  fellowship 
with  the  Father,  that  the  Son  realised  the  fact,  and 
lived  worthy  of  His  incarnate  life  ;  He  was  ever 
present  with  the  Father,  the  Father  lived  in  Him, 
and  He  by  the  Father.  It  was  because  He  had  the 
Spirit  of  the  Father,  that  He  accomplished  the  object 
for  which  the  Father  sent  Him  into  the  world  ;  and  so 
it  must  be  with  the  believer  in  Him,  he  must  live  in 
the  Son  as  the  Son  lived  in  the  Father,  he  must  ever 
see  the  Son  as  the  Son  ever  saw  the  Father,  he  must 
ever  do  the  will  and  work  of  the  Son  as  the  Son  did 
the  will  and  work  of  the  Father,  he  must  live  the  life 
of  the  Son  as  the  Son  lived  the  life  of  the  Father,  not 
to  the  same  degree  of  perfection,  but  on  the  same 
principle.  Only  thus  can  he  feed  on  the  Bread  of 
Life.  And  if  man  is  ever  to  ascend  to  that  lofty  con- 
dition of  being  and  life  prepared  for  him,  it  must  be 
through  the  indwelling  of  which  we  speak.  Behold, 
then,  the  humanity  which  was  frail  like  ours,  which 
grew  in  wisdom,  and  in  favour  with  God  and  man,  as 
ours  may  do  now.  Omniscient  in  the  gras^)  of  its 
knowledge,  Omhipotent  in  the  might  of  its  power, 
eternal  and  inexhaustible  in  the  resources  of  its  life, 
seated  on  the  throne  of  glory,  conducting  the  immortal 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  237 

goverment  of  the  Most  High,  and  carrying  into  exe- 
cution the  grand  designs  of  infinite  wisdom  and  grace. 
Where,  then,  is  there  a  nature  so  exalted,  a  character 
so  glorious,  a  life  so  blessed,  as  that  of  "  ^/le  Son  oj 
Mcm^'  a  nature  that  can  ascend  to  such  elevation  of 
life  and  nearness  to  God — a  nature  which  can  grasp 
the  prospect  of  the  Infinite  Mind,  and  live  the  life  of 
God  ?  What  a  noble  trust,  then,  is  the  possession  of 
humanity. 

Sec.  VII.  But  man  required  not  only  to  have  ex- 
hibited wherein  the  energy  of  the  Divine  life  consisted, 
but  also  to  be  drawn  to  God  by  a  gracious  display  of 
His  love.  Love  draws  to  itself  Kindness  never  fails 
to  draw  the  inferior  animals  to  those  who  manifest  it 
to  them.  In  the  reformatory  schools  of  Germany, 
those  reformers,  who,  while  they  retain  their  positions 
among  their  pupils,  can,  on  befitting  occasions,  gra- 
ciously condescend  to  make  tliemselves  one  with  their 
pupils,  and  seize  the  proper  opportunity  of  placing  con- 
fidence in  those  who  have  formerly  betrayed,  fail  not  to 
reclaim  those  youths  to  self-respect  and  virtue.  The 
conduct  of  David,  in  the  cave  of  Engedi,  towards  the 
jealous  Saul  who  sought  his  life,  melted  the  heart  of 
his  persecutor  and  brought  the  tears  of  self-reproach 
to  his  eyes.  The  treatment  of  Cismar,  the  traitor,  by 
Augustus,  wrung  the  enmity  and  treachery  of  the 
traitor  from  his  heart,  kindled  in  his  breast  fervent 
love  and  ardent  devotion  to  his  prince.  And  the 
Father,  in  giving  His  Son  to  die  for  sinners,  mani- 


238  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

fests  His  wisdom,  power,  and  grace,  to  the  ruined 
race. 

In  tlie  mission  of  Christ  is  displayed  the  love  of 
God  to  the  fallen  world.  It  was  the  Jove  of  God  to 
man  that  moved  the  Godhead  to  resolve  on  the  plan 
of  redemption.  It  was  the  yearning  of  Eternal  self- 
sacrificing  love  to  embrace  humanity  in  Divine 
delight  that  brought  the  Creator  of  all  worlds 
among  men  to  create  the  power  of  atonement,  and 
beseech  men  to  be  reconciled  to  God.  Hence,  the 
beloved  disciple  exclaims,  "Herein  is  love,  not  that 
we  loved  God,  but  that  God  loved  us,  and  sent  His 
Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for  our  sins."  And  this  is 
in  accordance  with  the  nature  of  love,  which  is  the 
very  being  of  God.  Love  finds  its  purest  pleasure  in 
self-sacrificing  exertions.  The  misery  of  the  objects 
of  its  afi"ection  stirs  it  to  its  deepest  depths.  The  ten- 
der mother  realises  her  purest  delight  and  deepest  joy 
in  her  self-denial  on  behalf  of  her  sufi'ering  infant. 
This  power  of  love  is  well  known  to  the  writers  of 
romance,  who  fail  not  to  depict  extraordinary  dis- 
plays of  self-sacrificing  devotedness,  in  order  to  move 
the  passions  of  their  readers ;  and  they  do  so  in  the 
conviction  of  the  universal  acknowledgment  of  the 
readiness  of  love  to  sacrifice  itself.  But  the  highest 
colourings  of  fiction  cannot  reach,  far  less  surpass,  the 
realities  of  being.  It  is  the  very  nature  of  love  to  be 
self-sacrificing.  There  cannot  be  love  without  self- 
sacrificing.  Genuine  love  satisfies  itself  with  nothing 
short  of  this. 

The  highest  efi'ort,  however,  of  finite  self-sacrificing, 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  239 

is  but  the  faintest  similitude  of  tlie  self-sacrificing 
love  of  God.  If  the  genuine  love  of  earth  can  display 
such  a  spirit  of  self-sacrificing  devotedness,  what  is  the 
infinite  love  of  Heaven  not  capable  of  doing  ?  The 
afiection  of  the  mother  towards  her  sick  infant ;  the 
yearnings  of  the  aged  monarch,  the  man  after  God's 
own  heart,  for  the  welfare  of  a  rebel  son ;  the  fervent 
longings  of  the  self-sacrificing  spirit  of  the  Apostle 
Paul  for  the  salvation  of  his  unbelieving  countrymen  ; 
those,  and  such  like,  come  fiir  short  of  the  self-sacri- 
ficing- love  of  God.  We  cannot  even  in  imag^ination 
set  limits  to  the  self-sacrificing  devotedness  of  the 
love  of  God.  It  is  the  very  nature  of  love  to  gratify 
itself  in  exerting  itself  to  its  utmost  in  behalf  of  its 
object.  While,  then,  we  stand  amazed  at  the  con- 
descending grace  of  God,  and  wonder  at  the  self- 
sacrificing  manifestation  of  His  mercy,  may  we  not 
also  be  astonished  that  epochs  and  ages  should  have 
elapsed  ere  that  love  should  have  embraced  humanity  ? 
If  God  gave  up  His  well-beloved  Son  to  death,  if  He 
gave  Him  up  to  the  power  of  His  enemies  to  show 
them  that  there  was  nothing  He  could  give  or  do  on 
their  behalf  but  what  He  was  ready  to  confer  and 
accomplish,  what  more  can  we  conceive  it  possible 
for  God's  self-sacrificing  love  to  do  on  behalf  of 
man  ? 

Is  it  conceivable  that  tlie  father  of  an  only  and 
well-beloved  son  who  had  bitter  enemies,  whose 
enmity  tormented  and  degraded  them,  and  who 
cherished  a  tender  compassion  for  these  enemies,  and 
was  desirous  of  doing  any  and  everything  that  could 


240  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

be  done  to  convince  them  of  the  groundlessness  of 
their  enmity,  and  of  his  eager  desire  to  lire  them 
with  love  to  himself,  that  they  might  be  recovered 
from  their  degradation  and  woe,  and  raised  to  dignity 
and  bliss  :  could  he  effect  this  end  in  a  more  strikinof 
and  impressive    manner   than   by  giving  his  son  to 
death  on  their  behalf?     You  enter  yon  cot  or  palace, 
and  behold  the  only  son  of  a  benignant  and  affection- 
ate father  stretched  on  a  couch  of  severe  and  acute 
suffering,  the  father  in  deep  solicitude  and  unutter- 
able grief  is  bending  over  his  dying  child,  the  child 
gazes  in  his    countenance  with   tender  emotions   of 
filial  love  which  pierces  the  father's  heart  to  its  quick  ; 
in  his  solicitations  for  relief  what   would  not  that 
father  do,  what  would  not  that  father  part  with  to 
mitigate  the  sufferings,  and  to  spare  the  life  of  his 
beloved  child ;  and  how  intensely  would  his  heart  be 
set  upon  the  accomplishment  of  any  object  to  effect 
which,  he  would  take  that  child  and  give  him  up  to 
his  malignant  foes  that  they  might  have  the  oppor- 
tunity  of  wreaking   on  him   the  fierceness  of  their 
enmity,  and  wring  from  him  his  tender  life,  and  that 
to,  at  the  very  moment  when  the  child  who  had  never 
offended  his  father,  but  had  only  endeared  himself  the 
more  to  his  heart,  was  by  every  possible  inducement 
entreating  his  father  with  all  the  solicitude  of  his 
filial  heart,  with  the  most  tender  appeals  that  could 
rend  the  father's  soul,  to  rescue  him  from  his  frightful 
anguish  and  terrible  death ;  could  anything  on  earth 
induce  a  father  worthy  of  the  name,  to  give  up  in 
such  circumstances  an  only  and  beloved  child  to  death  ? 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  241 

No,  we  believe  human  devotedness  can  never  rise  to 
sucb.  a  sublime  and  awful  height  of  self-sacrificing ; 
a  father  worthy  of  that  name  would  himself  a  thou- 
sand times  sooner  die.  Even  Abraham's  piety 
approached  not  within  sight  of  this  stupendous  deed 
of  the  Father.  It  is  only  the  self-sacrificing  love 
of  Godhead  that  could  give  to  the  universe  such  a 
wondrous  display  of  self-sacrificing  grace.  We  can- 
not conceive  it  possible,  that  man  can  imagine  it 
possible  for  Eternal  love  itself  to  give  a  more  striking 
and  impressive  proof  of  God's  love  to  man,  or  of  the 
desire  of  the  Father-Heart  to  enter  into  reconciliation 
with  man.  Can  the  desire  of  Godhead,  to  do  any 
and  everything  possible  for  the  salvation  of  man,  be 
set  before  the  world  in  more  impressive  form  than 
is  done  by  the  deed  of  the  Garden  and  the  Cross  ? 
No,  it  cannot. 

In  these  manifestations  of  the  Divine,  we  have  the 
elements  of  an  adequate  power  of  reconciliation  of 
man  with  God.  We  have  an  outlet  from  the  reo^ion 
of  remorse  and  despair,  we  see  clearly  how  sin  itself 
can  be  made  an  occasion  of  glory  to  God  and  of 
benefit  to  the  universe  of  beino;.  We  also  see  how 
that  the  believer,  in  the  consciousness  that  his  sins  are 
all  forgiven  him,  can  discern  how  his  sin  becomes  an 
occasion  of  glory  to  God,  by  God  glorifying  Himself 
in  forgiving  him  all  his  iniquities,  and  of  benefit  to 
man  in  his  realisation  of  the  complete  forgiveness  of 
his  sins.  We  have  a  clear  insio:ht  into  the  nature  and 
workings  of  the  carnal  mind,  we  easily  perceive  it  to 


242  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

be  essentiall}^  Satanic,  and  that  above  all  things  it  is 
to  be  dreaded  by  us ;  that  while  we  are  animated  by 
it  we  cannot  but  be  rebels  against  God,  enemies  of 
our  own  wellbeing.  AVe  have  a  striking  and  impres- 
sive display  of  God's  inflexible  determination  in 
regard  to  all  combinations  that  may  be  formed,  and 
of  His  purpose  to  maintain  all  combinations,  that 
even  should  His  own  well-beloved  Son,  for  His  own 
glory  in  the  salvation  of  sinners,  go  into  combination 
with  the  powers  of  darkness,  then  must  He  meet  all 
the  consequences  of  that  combination,  so  that  no 
human  being  whatsoever,  if  he  refuse  to  come  into 
combination  with  the  powers  of  light,  but  persist  in 
remaining  in  combination  with  sin  and  Satan,  can  fail 
to  meet  and  realise  all  the  results  of  such  combina- 
tion. We  have  also  an  expiation  of  human  guilt 
— the  Father  laying  on  the  Son  "the  iniquity  of 
us  all,"  and  accepting  of  the  death  of  His  Son  as 
*'the  propitiation  of  the  sins  of  the  world."  We 
have  exhibited  to  us  the  Divine  nature  and  results 
of  self-sacrificing  love.  God's  purpose  to  raise  it 
above  all  attempts  to  crush  it,  and  to  glorify  and 
bless  it  above  all  powers  and  principalities  of  life 
in  the  universe.  We  see  the  capacity  of  humanity 
for  the  indwelling  of  Divinity,  and  the  necessity  of 
the  indwelling  of  the  Divine  in  man  to  meet  the 
wants  and  to  quicken  the  life  of  humanity.  AVe  see 
the  most  wondrous  display  of  God's  love  to  man.  His 
purpose  to  leave  nothing  undone,  and  to  withold 
nothing  He  can  give  to  save  and  glorify  the  believer 
in  His  Son.     And  in  these  phases  of  manifestation  we 


POWER  OF  RECONCILIATION.  243 

have  all  the  elements  of  an  adequate  power  of  recon- 
ciliation. And  to  effect  the  reconciliation  of  the 
sinner  with  God,  all  these  phases  of  manifestation 
must  be  displayed  in  their  true  harmony,  and  realised 
in  their  unity ;  and  no  one  of  these  must  be  thrust 
forward  at  the  expense  of  the  other. 


(  244  ) 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

MEDIUM  OF  RECONCILIATION. 

PtEGENERATiox  or  tlic  filiation  of  tlie  Divine  life  in 
man,  necessitates  the  manifestation  of  the  gracious 
purpose  and  love  of  God,  viz.,  the  revelation  of  the 
Son  of  God  as  the  son  of  man ;  and  following  upon 
regeneration,  the  assimilation  of  the  life  of  man  in  his 
upward  progress  towards  a  perfect  standard  requires 
that  a  perfect  example  should  be  set  before  him.  The 
native  impulses  of  his  own  heart  are  not  enough,  for 
these  are  the  very  things  which  call  for  corrections 
and  directions.  It  is  beyond  all  things  needful  that 
the  example  to  be  copied  should  be  a  Divine  personal 
life,  with  such  points  of  human  contact  as  shall  bring 
it  into  sympathy  with  our  lives.  Hence  the  deep 
underlying  want  expressed  in  the  idolatrous  cry  of 
the  Israelites,  "Make  us  gods  to  go  before  us." 
Mediate  fellowship  with  God  will  not  satisfy  the 
cravings  of  the  spirit  of  man,  and  immediate  fellow- 
ship with  God  is  not  possible  through  the  medium  of 
the  finite ;  it  can  only  be  through  an  incarnation  of 
the  "brightness  of  the  Father's  glory."  Show  us  the 
Father,  is  the  cry  of  every  human  s^^irit,  and  man 
must  come  into  contact  with  incarnate  life  ere  he 
can  see  the  Father  in  the  Son. 


MEDIUM  OF  RE  CONCILIA  TION.  2  45 

It  is  tlie  gloiy  of  man  that  he  is  created  in  the 
image  of  God,  and  that  to  him  belong  powers  which 
can  only  be  adequately  exercised  in  communion  with 
the  Almighty  longings  which  can  find  their  explana- 
tion and  realisation  in  the  Incarnate  one.  God  cannot 
give  away,  even  to  man,  the  uncreated  substance  of 
His  own  being,  but  it  is  man's  high  honour  that  he 
has  been  made  an  immortal  spirit  capable  of  living 
God's  life,  and  shining  in  the  radiance  of  the  uncreated 
glory. 

Humanity  is  a  trinity  in  unity — a  oneness  of  person- 
ality in  a  threefold  nature.  In  this  trinity  the  one 
nature  is  subordinated  to  the  other  in  a  unity  of  life. 
Man  is  the  possessor  of  a  material,  rational,  and 
spiritual  nature,  and  these  have  not  only  different 
functions  to  discharge  in  the  one  life,  but  each  has 
qualities  which  we  cannot  think  of  as  being  possessed 
by  the  others.  We  find  that  these  natures  connect 
us  with  different  orders  of  existence.  The  senses,  e.g., 
unite  man  to  the  material  universe,  and  enable  him 
to  hold  intercourse  with  it.  Intelligence  unites  him 
with  the  world  of  mind,  and  enables  him  to  hold 
fellowship  with  it.  And  his  spirit  unites  him  with 
the  Divine,  and  enables  him  to  hold  fellowship  with  it. 

We  speak  of  the  size,  colour,  and  shape  of  a  body, 
but  we  cannot  think  of  the  size,  colour,  and  shape  of 
a  mind  or  its  product,  or  of  a  spirit  and  its  aspirations 
and  desires.  By  means  of  the  senses  we  receive  im- 
pressions from  external  nature  ;  by  means  of  the  under- 
standing we  perceive  principles,  &c.  ;  and  by  means 
of  conscience    we    perceive  the  right  and  wrong  of 


246  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

actions,  realise  obligations,  and  ajDprove  and  dis- 
approve of  conduct.  By  our  volition  we  put  forth 
energy  to  form  new  combinations  which,  but  for  our 
willing  them  to  be,  would  have  no  existence.  Man 
acts  in  his  will,  by  his  understanding,  and  through 
means  of  his  senses,  and  while  his  action  is  one,  and 
his  own,  it  is  distinct  as  regards  his  spirit,  mind,  and 
body. 

The  tripartite  nature  of  man  exists  in  a  subordinate 
relationship  of  constitution,  i.e.,  it  is  a  conditional 
union  of  parts.  In  the  very  nature  of  things,  and  by 
the  Divine  constitution  of  humanity,  the  body  is  in- 
ferior and  subordinate  to  the  mind,  and  the  mind  to 
the  spirit ;  and  this  threefold  nature  of  man  is  bound 
together  in  a  oneness  of  individuality  and  unity  of 
life.  Man,  amid  all  the  changes  of  his  threefold 
nature  and  difi'erent  conditions  of  his  individual  life, 
possesses  an  indestructible  consciousness  of  the  unity 
and  personality  of  his  life  ;  it  is  the  same  ego  or  I  that 
receives  impressions  by  means  of  the  senses ;  that  j)Gr- 
ceives  principles,  laws,  &c.,  by  means  of  the  intelli- 
gence ;  that  is  conscious  of  obligations  in  regard  to  the 
right  and  wrong  of  action  by  means  of  the  conscience ; 
and  that  gives  forth  energy  in  the  actions  of  the  will. 
It  is  the  same  ego  that  exists  in  the  present  as  existed 
in  the  past  and  looks  forward  to  the  future. 

The  knowledge  of  this  threefold  nature  of  man 
is  as  old  as  human  consciousness,  and  the  distinction 
between  soul  and  body  has  been  vividly  recognised 
by  man,  since  he  first  witnessed  the  mortality  of  the 
race.       But  the    clear   intimation   of  the  distinction 


MEDIUM  OF  RE  CONCIL I  ATI  ON.  247 

between  mind  and  spirit  is  tlie  gift  of  revelation,  and 
chiefly  communicated  to  us  in  the  writings  of  the 
Apostle  Paul.  And  this  distinction  is  ftir  too  little 
attended  to  in  the  psychology  and  theology  of  our 
day ;  this  distinction  is  clearly  set  before  us  in  these 
words,  "The  very  God  of  peace  sanctify  you  wholly, 
and  I  pray  God,  your  whole  spirit  and  soul  and  body 
be  presented  blameless,  unto  the  coming  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ." 

In  the  normal  state  of  humanity  the  mind  governs 
the  body,  the  spirit  governs  the  mind,  and  God 
governs  the  spirit,  but  in  the  abnormal  state,  when 
God  does  not  rule  in  the  spirit,  the  spirit  does  not 
rule  in  the  mind,  nor  the  mind  in  the  body, 
and  then  anarchy  and  conflict  prevail ;  and  "  the 
earthly,  sensual,  and  devilish,"  enslave  the  man  and 
reign  over  him.  When  the  constitutional  balance 
of  humanity  is  disturbed,  the  liberty  of  man  is  broken 
in  upon,  the  perfection  of  life  is  at  an  end,  and  satisfac- 
tion of  being  is  rendered  impossible  ;  the  dominion  of 
man  in  the  life,  and  of  God  in  the  person  have  ceased, 
the  dormant  state  of  the  God-conscious  faculty  of  the 
spirit  is  the  necessary  result  of  man's  separation  from 
God  by  sin,  and  the  spirit  exists  in  fallen  man  only 
as  a  capacity  for  the  Divine,  and  not  as  energised 
godliness  in  the  life. 

The  indwelling  of  the  Divine,  or  the  quickening  of 
the  spiritual  in  man,  is  needful  to  the  perfection  of 
his  personality,  and  here  it  may  be  of  service  to  con- 
sider what  that  is  which  goes  by  the  name  of 
personality. 


2  48  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

The  substance  of  my  body,  mind,  and  spirit,  is  mine, 
is  my  substance  in  a  sense  in  which  it  is  the  substance 
of  no  other.  Tlie  power  which  I  exert  is  my  power, 
and  is  mine  in  a  sense  in  which  it  is  the  power  of  no 
other.  The  dispositions  wliich  I  cherish  are  my 
dispositions,  and  they  are  mine  in  a  sense  peculiarly 
my  own.  The  motives  which  influence  me  are  my 
motives,  and  that  in  a  sense  in  which  they  belong 
to  no  other.  The  volitions  which  I  originate  are  my 
volitions,  and  mine  in  a  sense  in  which  they  belong 
to  no  other.  The  consciousness  in  which  I  live  is  my 
consciousness,  and  it  is  my  consciousness  in  a  sense 
in  which  it  is  the  consciousness  of  no  other. 

Substance,  power,  relations,  disposition,  motive, 
volition,  consciousness,  in  the  general,  unite  me  with 
other  rational  beings,  and  are  common  to  me  with 
them  ;  but  the  specific  of  these  is  that  which  separates 
me  from  all  other  individuals,  and  ensj)heres  me  in 
the  region  of  my  own  personal  existence.  The  im- 
mediate of  substance,  power,  relation,  &c.,  is  that  which 
distinguishes  me  from  all  other  beings,  shuts  me  up 
within  myself,  and  constitutes  my  individuality. 
The  specific  of  these  is  common  to  no  other  individual 
with  me..  The  immediate  of  them  is  known  to  no 
other  being,  as  it  is  known  to  me.  The  immediate 
of  substance,  power,  &c.,  is  that  which  is  mine,  con- 
stitutes me  what  I  am,  and  distinguishes  me  from 
all  other  beings,  is  the  region  in  which  I  dwell,  exists 
as  I  exist,  and  would  cease  to  exist  were  I  to  cease  to 
exist. 

I  can  conceive  of  nothing:  mediate  between  me  and 


MEDIUM  OF  RE  CONCILIA  TION.  2  49 

my  consciousness,  between  me  and  my  volitions, 
between  me  and  my  substance,  &c.  The  immediate 
of  my  being  comes  jiito  existence  with  me,  continues 
in  being  witli  me,  and  changes  with  the  changes 
of  my  existence.  I  have  a  consciousness,  a  volition, 
a  motive,  &c.,  and  they  are  mine  in  a  sense  in  which 
they  belong  to  no  other ;  they  depend  upon  me  for 
being,  they  are  inseparable  from  me.  And  how  they 
are  to  exist  in  perfection  is  to  me  one  of  the  most 
important  Cjuestions  that  can  be  raised. 

AVith  a  view  to  the  elucidation  of  this  matter,  it  is 
needful  to  bear  in  mind  what  has  already  been  said 
reoardimj  the  union  of  three  natures  in  a  oneness  of 
personality  and  life.  If  the  union  of  these  three 
natures  thus  produces  a  capacity  for  realisation,  which 
in  their  separate  state  could  belong  to  none  of  them 
singly,  why,  then,  may  not  the  addition  of  another 
nature  produce  an  increased  capacity,  and  supply 
the  conditions  of  perfections  of  life,  to  an  extent 
otherwise  quite  impossible  ?  That  it  does  suj)ply  these 
conditions  we  need  hardly  say  the  Scriptures 
affirm. 

This  fourfold  union  of  nature,  in  a  oneness  of  per- 
sonality and  life,  already  exists  in  its  most  perfect 
form,  in  the  person  of  the  Incarnate  one;  and  it 
is  only  as  we  become  one  with  Him,  that  we  can 
attain  to  the  goal  of  existence.  It  is  only  thus  that 
we  can  see  the  Father,  and  it  is  only  in  fellowship 
with  the  Father,  through  the  Son,  and  by  the  Spirit, 
that  we  can  realise  the  perfections  of  our  being  and 
life. 


2 so  2 HE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

lucarnation  is  tlic  link  of  connection  between  tBe 
human  and  Divine  both  in  personality  and  life  ;  Incar- 
nation is  the  ladder  of  the  descent  of  the  Divine  into 
the  human,  and  of  the  ascent  of  the  human  into  the 
Divine.  In  the  Incarnate  one,  the  human  and  Divine 
are  united  in  a  oneness  of  personality  ;  in  the  regene- 
rate, the  human  and  Divine  arc  united  in  a  oneness  of 
life. 

As  the  Logos  assumed  our  nature  and  responsi- 
bilities, so  must  we  take  on  His  life  and  character. 
He  possesses  the  immediate  of  the  human,  and  we  in 
Him  possess  the  immediate  of  the  Divine.  He  took 
upon  Himself  a  real,  perfect,  complete  humanity.  He 
was  "bone  of  our  bone,  flesh  of  our  flesh,"  and  as 
"  the  children  are  partakers  of  flesli  and  blood.  He 
also  Himself  took  part  of  the  same,"  His  body  was 
liable  to  fatigue,  hunger,  and  thirst ;  it  was  nourished 
by  food,  refreshed  by  drink,  invigorated  by  sleep ; 
it  felt  the  pangs  of  hunger,  the  cravings  of  thirst,  the 
exhaustion  of  labour ;  it  was  liable  to  pain  and  suffer- 
ing in  life,  and  to  the  agonies  of  death  ;  it  grew  from 
infancy  to  childhood  and  youtli,  from  youth  to 
manhood.  In  regard  to  all  these  things,  He  was 
subject  to  the  same  conditions  as  we  ourselves  are 
subject  to. 

In  regard  to  His  mind,  the  same  thing  holds  good ; 
it  was  like  our  own  in  all  sinless  matters,  its  capa- 
cities like  our  own  required  to  be  developed.  He 
increased  in  knowledge,  and  made  progress  in  under- 
standing. While  free  from  error,  tliere  were  things 
which    the    young   mind    of    Jesus    did   not   know. 


MEDl  UM  OF  RE  CONCILIA  TION.  2  5 1 

Furtlier,  He  jDOSsessed  a  spirit  like  our  spirit,  He 
felt  as  we  feel,  loved  as  we  love,^  longed  as  we  long, 
desired  as  we  desire,  aspired  as  we  aspire. 

And  as  Christ  really  took  our  nature  into  His  own 
personality  and  life,  in  order  to  tlie  actuality  and 
perfection  of  His  Incarnation,  so  must  we  take  Him 
into  our  nature  and  life,  in  order  to  its  perfection 
and  enjoyment.  It  is  only  in  receiving  Him  that  we 
can  be  made  "partakers  of  the  Divine  nature."  As 
He  comes  into  our  nature  to  secure  for  us  the  per- 
fection and  joy  of  His  life,  so  must  we  take  Him  into 
our  life  in  order  to  realise  the  perfection  of  His  life, 
and  the  benefit  of  His  work. 

The  theological  controversies  of  the  last  eighteen 
centuries  are  all  tending  to  establish,  with  ever  in- 
creasing clearness,  the  essential  Divinity  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  reality  of  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son 
of  God,  in  the  Son  of  Man.  But  they  cannot  stop 
here,  they  have  more  to  do  than  this;  they  must 
show  that  participation  in  the  Divine  nature  by  the 
human,  through  its  union  with  Christ,  is  absolutely 
needful  for  the  complete  perfection  and  glory  of  the 
human.  Humanity  was  erected  for  the  indwelling 
of  the  Divine  ;  and  that  this  indwelling  shall  be  a 
realised  fact  of  its  experience  is,  no  doubt,  the  pur- 
pose of  God,  as  expressed  in  the  conditions  of  human 
wellbeing.  Humanity  being  created  for  participation 
in  the  nature  of  God,  as  a  matter  of  course  its  capa- 
cities can  only  be  filled  by  God  and  its  nature 
completed  in  Him.  In  order  to  his  wellbeing,  man 
must  have  all  his  capacities  filled,   all  his  relations 


2^2 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  S  FIR  J  7  UAL  LIFE. 


liarmonised,  all  liis  faculties  energised,  and  all  liis 
powers  duly  exercised  ;  and  tins  can  only  be  accom- 
plished in  having  the  God-conscious  faculty  of  his 
soul  quickened,  and  acting  with  delight  in  the 
"  Invisible,"  which  is  alone  possible  through  the 
indwelling  of  God.  If  the  organ  be  not  in  a  healthy 
state,  man  cannot  be  at  rest;  if  it  is  in  any  way 
damaged,  God,  as  He  is,  cannot  be  seen  by  it ;  ere 
God  can  be  seen  l)y  man,  this  organ  of  his  spirit 
must  be  c[uickened  with  love,  but  love  to  what  ?  To 
self  !  to  creature  allurements  however  high  !  not  with 
love  to  these,  but  with  love  to  the  Christlike,  for 
if  we  have  not  the  spirit  of  Christ,  we  are  none  of 
His.  We  may  have  the  possessions  of  an  Olympian 
deity,  or  the  attainments  of  an  archangel,  l)ut  if 
"Christ  be  not  in  us  the  hope  of  glory,"  then  must 
we  lack  the  Divine  Sonship,  the  most  glorious  of  all 
possible  attainments. 

As  truly  as  Christ  took  our  nature,  so  truly  He 
gives  lis  His  life,  and  as  it  was  only  in  our  nature 
that  He  could  live  His  life,  and  give  such  a  manifes- 
tation of  His  Father's  love  as  was  needful  to  our 
faith,  so  it  is  only  in  His  life  that  we  can  put  Him 
on  and  realise  His  salvation.  AVe  may  abound  in 
zeal  and  be  abundant  in  labours  as  to  rival  or 
surpass  the  great  Apostle.  As  expositors  we  may 
eclipse  the  labour  of  a  Calvin,  Luther,  and  others  ; 
yet  if  we  have  not  the  sj)irit  of  Christ  we  are  none 
of  His.  I  may  possess  the  wealth  of  a  Croesus  and 
devote  it  all  to  works  of  charity,  I  may  have  the 
devotedness  of  a  Howard  and  spend  my  days  and 


MEDl  UM  OF  RE  CONCILIA  TION.  2  5  3 

niglits  in  visiting  the  wretched;  I  may  leave  tlie 
devotees  of  all  asfes  in  the  far  distance  in  reo-ard  to 
fasting;  and  zeal,  but  if  I  have  not  Christ  I  am 
nothing,  it  is  all  in  vain.  I  cannot  please  God,  who 
will  not  acknowledge  anything  in  the  human  life 
but  what  has  originated  in,  and  has  proceeded  from, 
Christ. 

In  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  in  the  Son 
of  Man,  the  Divine  and  human  as  has  been  already 
said  becomes  one  personality.  And  it  is  in  this 
union  that  God  gives  the  highest  manifestations  of 
Himself.  It  is  in  the  human  that  God  has  accom- 
plished His  most  glorious  work.  And  it  is  to  the 
believer  that  He  reveals  Himself  in  the  most 
endearing  fellowship.  We  cannot  easily  conceive  of 
a  nature  brought  into  a  nearer  affinity  to  God's 
nature,  or  more  capable  of  becoming  one  with  it,  than 
is  man's  nature.  And  in  point  of  fact  there  is  no 
created  nature  so  highly  exalted  as  is  humanity,  for 
in  the  person  of  Christ  Jesus  it  is  raised  "  to  the 
right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high." 

And  as  the  humanity  is  necessary  to  the  Divinity 
of  Jesus  Christ,  so  is  the  Incarnate  life  of  the  Son 
needful  to  the  fulness,  glory,  and  bliss  of  man,  and 
the  perfection  of  the  humanity  of  the  redeemed.  The 
humanity  of  the  redeemed  is  complete  in  the  measure 
of  the  believer's  reception  of  Christ. 

The  Son  of  Man  is  the  only  one  of  the  race  who 
has  fully  and  unqualifiedly  received  the  Son  of  God  ; 
therefore  He  alone  has  ever  perfectly  done  the 
will  of  God.     And  this  is  that  which  constitutes  the 


254  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

diflferencc  of  the  life  of  tlie  Saviour  from  the  life  of 
tlie  savetl.  In  tlieir  personalities  the  Saviour  and 
the  saved  are  distinct,  in  their  lives  they  arc  one, 
but  the  character  of  the  life  of  the  Saviour  surpasses, 
as  the  heavens  surpass  in  height  the  earth,  the 
character  of  the  life  of  the  saved. 

In  the  Incarnate  one  we  have  given  to  us  the 
revelation  of  the  Divine,  both  objective  and  subjective 
in  its  fulness.  The  Father  desires  nothing  more  in 
the  manifestations  of  the  Divine  than  there  is  in  His 
Son,  nor  does  He  desire  more  of  the  human.  And 
those  who  receive  the  Son  by  faith  are  of  one  life 
with  Him.  And  to  the  extent  of  that  life  in  a 
oneness  of  consciousness  with  Him,  their  subjective 
is  one  with  the  subjective  of  God ;  hence  says  the 
Apostle,  "  Our  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God."  In 
Him  we  have  the  revelation  of  the  capacity  of  the 
human,  the  manifestation  of  the  perfect  human. 
Without  Him  the  human  cannot  live  the  Divine  life, 
nor  realise  the  completion  and  perfection  of  its  own 
existence. 

In  Christ  Jesus  the  Divine  descends  into  the  human, 
fills,  completes,  and  glorifies  it.  In  Christ  the  human 
ascends  into  a  oneness  of  spirit  and  life  with  the 
Divine.  In  Christ  the  Infinite  comes  within  the 
limits  of  space,  and  the  Eternal  within  the  limits  of 
time ;  the  living  comes  into  the  dead  and  quickens 
them  with  His  own  blessed  life.  Who  then  can  set 
limits  to  the  revelation  of  the  Infinite  Eternal  and 
Divine  ?  or  to  the  reception  of  the  same  by  the 
human  ?    The  world  has  the  capacity  for  the  reception 


MEDIUM  OF  RE  CONCILIA  TION.  2  5  5 

and  indwelling  of  the  Divine,  but  not  tlie  capability 
for  it.  The  spirit  of  tlie  world  is  the  enmity  of  the 
carnal,  and  this  is  antagonistic  to  the  Divine,  hence 
the  impossibility  of  the  consecration  of  the  world  to 
the  fellowship  of  the  Divine ;  before  this  can  be 
accomplished,  the  carnal  must  be  driven  out  from 
the  human  by  the  manifestation  of  God,  given  to  the 
world  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  thus  the  subjugation  of 
evil,  the  consecration  of  power,  the  sanctification  of 
capacity,  the  fellowship  of  life  and  every  excellence 
is  attained,  through  the  descent  of  the  Divine,  and 
the  reception  in  faith  of  the  Mediator  between  God 
and  man.     "The  Man  Christ  Jesus." 

In  as  much,  then,  as  man  was  created  in  the  imaei^e 
Divine,  there  was  in  him  shadowed  forth  to  finite 
vision,  vast  capacities  and  high  possibilities.  There 
was  produced  outside  of  the  consciousness  of  God 
the  embodiment  of  the  Divine  conception,  the  cherished 
idea  of  God.  But  in  the  Incarnation,  at  the  fulness  of 
the  times,  the  conception  was  more  perfectly  disclosed. 
Study  closely  the  inseparable  union  of  the  human  and 
Divine  natures  in  the  one  personality  and  life  of  the 
Incarnate  one.  Behold  the  human  in  permanent 
union  with  the  Divine,  see  it  on  the  throne  of  the 
universe  at  the  Father's  right  hand ;  carried  in 
glorious  ascent  to  the  seat  of  the  universal  empire, 
amid  the  thron^ino;  leoions  of  attendant  angels,  and 
the  exultant  shouts  of  the  heavenly  host,  contemplate 
it  in  majesty  swaying  its  all  embracing  sceptre,  and 
can  you  imagine  even  the  possibility  of  God  Himself 
raisinsf  the  finite  hiMier  than  this   state  of  human 

o  o 


2?6  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 


=  0 


exaltation  and  bliss ;  not  even  angelic  nature  may 
aspire  to  this.  And  to  set  before  iis  what  humanity 
in  its  union  with  Divinity  can  attain  to,  was  the 
orand  end  of  the  Son  of  God  becomino-  the  Son  of 
Man.  Yes,  the  glorious  conception  of  the  Triune 
Jehovah  in  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  was  to 
display  to  universal  intelligence  the  deep  capacities, 
the  boundless  susceptibilities  of  the  human,  and  its 
indefinite  power  of  assimilation  to  the  Divine. 

But  it  was  not  only  needful  that  Christ  should 
point  out  to  man  what  he  might  reach,  it  was  also 
requisite  that  He  should  show  him  the  Avay  to  reach 
his  destination ;  and  this  our  Lord  has  done.  All 
that  Christ  did  and  said,  He  did  and  said  with  this 
end  in  view.  Without  the  doctrine  and  example  of 
Jesus,  no  son  of  Adam's  race  could  ever  have  reached 
the  perfections  of  His  being  and  life.  The  Son  of 
God,  as  revealer  of  the  True,  from  the  height  of  His 
glory  might  have  pointed  out  to  man  the  way,  might 
have  commissioned  angels  to  guide  his  ste2:)s  in  the 
path  of  glory  and  bliss,  but  man,  even  with  such  aid, 
would  have  failed  to  reach  his  destination.  It  was 
imperatively  needful  that  one  should  come  to  set  the 
example,  otherwise,  no  human  being  could  ever  have 
attained  to  life  and  immortality.  And  even  the 
alluring  attractions  of  Christ's  example  need  to  be 
supplemented  with  all  the  fascinations  of  Divine  love 
to  induce  man  to  enter  upon  the  way  of  life,  and  it 
needs  all  the  skill  of  Infinite  wisdom  to  keep  him  in  it. 

Behold,  then,  the  humanity  of  the  Glorified  Incar- 
nate One,  on  the  seat  of  the  empire  above,  crowned  with 


MEDIUM  OF  RE  CONCILIA  TION.  2  5  7 

the  diadem  of  victory,  honoured  by  the  Father,  wor- 
shipped by  the  hosts  of  the  shies,  blessed  with  the 
consciousness  of  the  Divine,  and  resplendent  in  the 
radiance  of  uncreated  light,  bending  from  His  lofty 
seat  and  beckoning  you  to  follow  in  His  footsteps, 
and  to  join  Him  in  the  realms  of  immortality.  Oh, 
then,  Eternal  Spirit  of  the  Infinite  God,  breathe 
upon  us,  quicken  us,  and  fill  us  with  Thine  own  ful- 
ness, that  we  may  "  see  the  King  in  His  beauty,  enjoy 
Him  as  He  is,  and  reign  with  Him  in  glory."  When 
I  attempt  to  gaze  on  the  orb  of  day  in  the  full  splen- 
dour of  his  noontide  blaze,  mine  eye  dims  into  the 
deep  shades  of  night,  and  I  am  constrained  to  say  he  is 
too  bright  an  object  for  my  organ  of  vision  ;  but  when 
T  look  at  him  veiled  in  a  dense  atmosphere,  I  can 
gaze  upon  him  with  impunity ;  and  when  I  contem- 
j^late  him  in  the  light  of  science,  I  can  learn  of  him 
all  that  science  can  make  known.  So,  when  I  attempt, 
by  the  unaided  powers  of  reason,  to  grasp  and  com- 
prehend the  Infinite  Eternal  God,  my  mind,  stunned 
and  paralysed  by  the  attempt,  falls  back  upon  itself 
in  the  conviction  that  by  its  own  unaided  efforts  it 
can  never  ascend  to  a  height  so  awful.  But  when  by 
faith  I  contemplate  the  uncreated  God  through  the 
veil  of  the  Eedeemer's  humanity,  I  feel  that  my  mind 
is  expanded  and  elevated,  in  its  approach  to  the  Infin- 
ite and  Divine,  in  such  a  manner  as  makes  it  impos- 
sible for  me,  even  in  imagination,  to  set  limits  to  my 
assimilation  in  love,  knowledge,  and  life,  to  the  Eternal 
God.  I  feel  myself  elevated  to  the  highest  condition 
of  my  being  and  life,  my  mind  becomes  enlarged  witli 

B 


258  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

the  noblest  and  most  comprehensive  conceptions,  and 
my  heart  is  enlivened  with  the  divinest  and  most 
God-like  emotions  ;  I  feel  that  I  have  a  capacity  for 
the  Divine  itself,  and  that  my  spirit  can  contain 
God ;  I  feel  that  by  faith  I  can  receive  the  Son  of 
God.  And  thus,  I  perceive  that  my  humanity  is 
capable  of  reaching  the  most  exalted  condition  of 
finite  existence.  Nor  does  this  express  the  whole,  for 
humanity  in  its  life  divine  is  the  image  of  the  Invi- 
sible, the  heir  of  God,  and  joint-heir  with  the  Son  of 
God.  In  the  possession  and  enjoyment  of  the  life  of 
God  it  is  more  than  the  mere  finite,  and  higher  than 
the  mere  created.  It  is  conscious  of  a  oneness  of  life 
with  the  Infinite,  it  is  the  created  manifestinir  and 
enjoying  the  life  of  the  uncreated.  Glorious,  incom- 
prehensible, unfathomable  mystery.  Thus  I  begin  to 
know  that  to  lift  man  up  to  this  highest  height  of 
eternal  felicity,  to  raise  humanity  to  this  loftiest 
altitude  of  being  and  life,  was  the  grand  end  of 
the  medium  of  fellowshij^  becoming  the  Mediator  of 
Life. 


(  259  ) 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

CONDITION  OF  RECONCILIATION. 

Things  which  exist,  and  events  which  take  place  or 
are  supposed  to  take  place,  in  remote  distance  of  space 
or  time,  can  be  known  to  men  only  by  rej)ort.  If  the 
event  has  occurred  in  a  region  lying  beyond  the  rano-e 
of  personal  observation  and  outside  the  sphere  of 
their  consciousness,  it  can  be  known  to  men  in  no 
other  way  than  as  the  report  of  it  is  brought  to  them 
by  others.  As  the  thought  of  one  mind  can  be  known 
to  another  mind  through  the  latter 's  belief  of  the  state- 
ment of  the  former,  so  the  event  of  one  place  or  of 
one  age  can  be  known  to  the  men  of  another  place  or 
another  age,  only  through  their  crediting  the  narrative 
brought  to  them  of  the  events ;  and  the  events  can 
only  be  known  as  they  are  faithfully  reported,  and 
the  report  simply  believed.  If  the  narrator  has  failed 
to  observe  correctly,  or  record  exactly,  the  peculiarities 
of  what  he  describes,  or  if  in  his  description  he  has 
mixed  up  with  his  account  of  what  he  reports  supposi- 
tions of  his  own,  and  if  his  narrative  of  the  events  be 
taken  as  a  faithful  account  of  the  occurrence,  a  correct 
impression  of  it  will  not  be  received  by  his  readers  ; 
or  if  the  historian  should  transmit  a  faithful  account 


26o  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

of  what  lie  lays  before  liis  readers,  and  if  tliey,  instead 
of  simply  believing  his  narrative,  should  mix  np  with 
it  notions  of  their  own,  they  would  not  have  a  correct 
conception  of  the  events  recorded.  Faithful  narration, 
then,  and  simple  belief  are  necessary  to  a  correct 
knowledge  of  everything  that  lies  beyond  the  sphere 
of  our  own  experience. 

If,  then,  the  purpose  of  one  mind  can  be  known  to 
another  mind  only  as  it  is  revealed  to  that  other,  and 
if  the  events  of  one  age  can  be  learned  by  the  men  of 
another  age  only  as  these  are  communicated  to  that 
other  age,  then  the  purpose  of  the  Infinite  mind  can  be 
known  by  the  finite  mind  only  as  it  is  revealed,  and 
the  doings  of  God  in  one  age  can  be  read  by  the  men 
of  all  subsequent  ages  only  as  the  account  of  these 
doings  is  transmitted  to  them. 

The  purpose  of  God,  therefore,  to  reconcile  man  to 
Himself  by  the  death  of  His  Son  could  be  commu- 
nicated to  man  only  through  the  revelation  of  it  in 
the  incarnation  of  Christ,  and  this  purpose  could  be 
revealed  to  the  world  only  in  one  manifestation  of  it 
to  one  people  in  one  place,  and  not  to  every  man  in 
every  age  and  every  land.  The  great  bulk  of  man- 
kind, therefore,  must  learn  this  purpose  of  God  through 
the  testimony  of  their  fellows. 

If  the  purpose  of  mercy  to  man  is  to  be  known  at 
all  by  individuals  who  have  not  had  the  opportunity 
of  witnessing  its  manifestation,  it  can  be  known  to 
them  only  through  their  belief  of  the  testimony  of 
those  qualified  to  declare  the  manifestation  of  that 
purpose,  and  by  the  simple  belief  of  that  testimony, 


CONDITION  OF  RE  CONCILIA  TION.  2  6 1 

all  men,  eveiywliere,  to  -whom  it  is  declared  may 
become  acquainted  with  that  purpose,  and  by  faith 
in  it  enter  into  reconciliation  with  their  Father  in 
heaven. 

"Faith,"  says  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  "  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the 
credence  of  things  not  seen,"  or,  as  rendered  otherwise. 
"The  realisation  of  the  thing  hoped  for,  the  vision  or 
conviction  of  things  not  seen,"  and  both  the  Church 
and  the  world  have  sustained  great  loss  by  the  neglect 
of  this  inspired  definition  of  faith,  and  the  substitu- 
tion of  other  definitions  in  its  stead. 

Faith  is  the  substance,  or  the  vision  of  the  unseen  ; 
for  example,  a  parent  entertains  a  purpose  in  reference 
to  his  child ;  the  cherishing  of  this  purpose  on  the  part 
of  the  parent  is  a  reality  in  the  parent,  but  as  long  as 
it  is  carefully  kept  to  himself  it  is  unknown  to  his 
child,  and  while  unknown,  it  can,  of  course,  exert  no 
influence  upon  the  child ;  if,  however,  the  parent 
reveals  his  purpose,  say,  in  the  form  of  a  promise,  then 
his  purpose  has  an  existence  out  of  himself,  it  is  now 
revealed  in  the  statement  he  has  made  to  his  child, 
and  dwells  in  the  recollection  of  both  parent  and 
child.  If  the  statement  of  the  promise  be  not  believed 
by  the  child,  the  purpose  of  the  father  has  no  realised 
existence  in  the  heart  of  the  child,  it  exists  only  in 
the  heart  and  statement  of  the  parent,  and  in  the 
recollection  of  the  father  and  son ;  but  if  the  statement 
of  the  promise  of  the  father  be  believed  by  the  son, 
then  the  purpose  of  the  father,  through  the  belief  of 
the  child,  has  an  existence  in  the  heart  of  the  son, 


262  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

and  in  tlie  measure  of  tlie  correctness  of  tlie  statement 
of  the  promise  made,  and  of  the  clearness  of  its  appre- 
hension, is  the  ideal  of  father  and  son  the  same  with 
regard  to  the  purpose  formed.  In  this  way  the  child 
has  already  an  ideal  possession  or  a  spiritual  realisa- 
tion of  the  thing  promised,  and  there  is  a  union  and 
communion  of  understandinij  and  heart  between  father 
and  son  in  regard  to  the  thing  promised. 

There  are  thus  two  sides  in  faith,  viz.,  the  concep- 
tion or  idea  of  the  thing  promised,  and  the  persuasion 
of  the  veracity  of  the  person  making  the  promise, 
the  anticipative  realisation  of  the  thing  promised ; 
hence  faith  is  w^ell  defined  to  be  the  thing  hoped  for, 
the  realisation  of  the  unseen. 

Thus  is  it,  spiritually,  God  makes  promise  of  the 
life  of  His  Son  to  all  that  believe  in  Him.  The 
sinner  believes,  and  in  the  measure  of  his  apprehen- 
sion of  eternal  life  throuoh  the  atonincr  blood  of 
Christ,  he  possesses  and  enjoys  that  life,  realises  the 
forgiveness  of  his  sins,  and  has  the  substance  of  the 
things  hoped  for,  through  the  conviction  of  the 
unseen ;  his  heart  glows  with  the  delight  arising  out 
of  it,  his  mind  is  occupied  with  the  thought  of  it,  and 
his  will  is  consecrated  to  the  enjoyment  of  it.  The 
believer  in  Christ,  just  in  the  clearness  of  his  apj)re- 
hension  of  the  Gospel,  has  through  his  belief  of  it  the 
possession  and  enjoyment  of  the  Divine  life,  he  has  a 
conception  of  spiritual  life  in  his  mind,  and  a  realisa- 
tion of  it  in  his  heart,  he  has  the  substance  of  the 
thing  hoped  for,  the  realisation  of  the  unseen. 

As  this  matter  is  of  vital  imiDortance,  let  us  take 


CONDITION  OF  RECONCILIATION.  263 

an  illustration  easy  to  be  understood.  A  sou,  we  shall 
suppose,  disobeys  his  father's  command,  and  rebels 
against  his  authority ;  now,  while  the  recollection 
of  his  transgression  is  fresh  in  his  mind,  he  is  likely 
to  dread  the  punishment  which  he  knows  he  has 
merited  ;  he  dislikes,  of  course,  the  thought  of  his 
father's  chastisement,  and  tries  to  avoid  his  presence  ; 
if  he  succeeds  in  keeping  clear  of  his  father,  and  gets 
engaged  with  his  companions  in  their  games,  he  may 
lose  all  vivid  impression  of  his  transgression  and  of 
his  alarm  at  his  father's  dis^^leasure,  and,  for  a  time, 
all  apprehension  of  his  transgression  may  be  lost  in 
the  excitement  of  the  spoi't.  But  let  a  quarrel  arise 
between  him  and  his  companions,  let  him  wander 
about  for  days  uncared  for  by  any  till  he  is 
made  to  feel  that  there  is  no  place  like  home,  and 
that  the  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard,  and  at 
this  juncture,  when,  perchance,  his  misery  is  deepen- 
ing into  despair,  let  him  see  his  father  approaching 
with  tenderness  and  pity  in  his  look  for  his  miserable 
son,  and  let  the  father  come  up  to  him,  and  while  he 
points  out  to  him  the  aggravated  nature  of  his  offence, 
and  the  great  trouble  and  expense  it  must  entail,  yet 
out  of  pity  and  love,  and  in  order  to  free  him  from 
punishment,  he  has  himself  undertaken  the  whole 
responsibility,  and  declares  to  his  son,  in  consequence, 
a  full  and  free  forgiveness,  at  the  same  time  placing 
in  his  hand  a  striking  proof  of  his  forgiveness  and 
love.  If  the  son  believes  the  word  of  his  father,  his 
fear  will  flee  away,  his  dread  will  vanish,  and  his 
heart  will  glow  with    love  and  gratitude,   delight  in 


2  64         THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

Ills  father  will  fill  his  soul ;  lie  will  ouly  desire 
to  know  what  it  w^ould  gratify  his  father  to  see  him 
do,  and  he  will  hasten  with  joy  to  do  it.  This  proof 
of  his  father's  love  to  him  fills  him  with  confidence 
and  zeal,  and  thus  father  and  son  are  hound  to  each 
other  in  sweeter  bonds  of  affection  than  they  felt  for 
each  other  before.  The  father  sees  the  filial  love  of 
the  son  with  complacency  and  delight,  and  the  son 
looks  up  to  the  father  in  the  fulness  of  an  overflow- 
ing heart,  and  thus  their  reconciliation  is  complete, 
their  mutual  attachment  deepened  and  augmented. 

But  if,  instead  of  freely  pardoning  his  son,  the 
father  had  sought  and  found  him  in  order  to  upbraid 
him  and  formally  banish  him  from  his  presence, 
never  again  to  see  him  until,  by  the  doing  of  some 
difficult  work,  he  has  merited  forgiveness,  what  \Yould 
have  been  the  effect  on  this  wretched  son  ?  Would 
this  have  fired  him  with  love  and  gratitude  ?  On 
the  contrary,  would  it  not  have  increased  his  dread 
and  engendered  dislike  to  his  father  ?  From  fear  of 
his  father,  the  son  naisjht  set  about  the  doino;  of  the 
prescribed  work,  but  it  would  be  with  no  love  to  the 
work,  nor  with  pleasure  in  the  treatment  which  he  had 
received  from  his  father,  and  if  he  felt  the  work  to  be 
impossible,  or  even  difficult,  he  would,  perhaps,  give  it 
up  in  disgust  or  despair ;  or,  in  the  event  of  j^ursuing 
his  task  out  to  the  end,  it  would  be  with  a  sense 
of  degradation,  and  in  his  toil  he  would  be  a  slave 
and  not  a  son. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  son  should  fancy  that  in 
spite  of  his  father's  tender  looks  and  fair  promises,  he 


CONDITION  OF  RE  CONCILIA  TION.  2  6  5 

liad  no  intention  of  forgiving  liim  his  fault,  but  spoke 
to  liim  in  such  a  manner  only  the  more  easily  to 
entice  him  home  with  a  view  to  chastise  him,  then 
such  a  suj^position  would  not  fire  his  heart  with  love 
and  gratitude,  but  only  the  more  increase  his  fear  and 
dislike.  It  is,  therefore,  only  the  clear  announcement 
of  forgiveness,  and  the  implicit  belief  of  that  an- 
nouncement, that  can  awaken  love  and  confidence  in 
the  heart  of  any  erring  son. 

Man,  the  child  of  God,  has  transgressed  the  com- 
mandments of  the  Father  in  heaven,  and,  in  the  per- 
ception of  his  guilt,  the  first  feeling  wdthin  him  is 
that  of  fear  and  dread  of  punishment  which  leads 
him  to  shun  the  presence  of  God.  He  engages  in  the 
affairs  of  life,  and  seeks  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  the 
world,  and  as  long  as  he  is  absorbed  with  them,  he 
may  forget  his  transgression,  and  be  unconcerned  about 
his  relations  to  God ;  but  if  God  comes  to  him,  in  the 
alarming  events  of  His  Providence,  he  becomes  ter- 
rified and  anxious  about  his  spiritual  state,  and  if,  in 
the  consciousness  of  guilt,  he  believes  the  gospel,  then 
he  enters  into  peace  with  God.  In  the  light  of  the 
cross,  he  sees  that  he  has  grievously  sinned  against 
his  Father,  and  has  sought  only  to  live  for  himself, 
and  that,  although  God  has  left  him  for  a  time  to 
himself,  that  he  might  the  more  effectually  learn  what 
he  really  was,  that  fact  did  not  cancel  his  guilt,  nor 
deliver  him  from  its  power.  He  sees  that  God,  in 
coming  to  him  in  the  mission  and  work  of  His  Son, 
has  not  come  to  upbraid  him  for  his  sin,  nor  to 
threaten  him  with  punishment,  but  to  point  out  to 


266  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

bim  in  tlie  most  tender  and  affectionate  manner  the 
real  nature  of  liis  enmity  ;  showing  to  him  how  great 
the  expense,  and  difficult  the  work  He  has  undertaken, 
that  He  might  be  able  to  forgive  him  his  sins,  and 
that,  notwithstanding  the  trying  nature  of  the  work 
and  the  greatness  of  the  expense,  out  of  love  to  him 
He  has  undertaken  the  whole  responsibility,  that  He 
might  freely  forgive  men  their  sins,  and  bestow  upon 
them  eternal  life.  The  perception  of  this  great  truth 
at  once  destroys  the  enmity  of  the  carnal  mind  in  the 
believer,  fills  him  with  love  and  gratitude,  and  inspires 
liim  wath  devoted  zeal  to  the  glory  of  his  Father  in 
heaven,  and  thus  the  reconciliation  which  is  throufrh 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  effected  between  the  Father 
and  His  erring  son. 

But  if,  instead  of  looking  at  guilt  in  the  light  of  the 
cross,  the  sinner  contemplates  his  sin  through  the 
medium  of  his  own  fears,  then  he  naturally  thinks  of 
God  as  an  hard  taskmaster,  demandino;  severe  thinos 
of  him  ;  and,  perhajDS,  he  becomes  careless  and  indif- 
ferent, or  he  begins  to  perform  what  he  hopes  will 
meet  His  favour,  and  secure  His  approbation,  but  the 
motive  power  of  love  is  awanting  in  his  heart,  and 
the  effort  is  felt  to  be  irksome,  and  is  either  abandoned 
or  drawled  out  in  the  deadness  of  formalism.  There 
is  no  radical  change  of  spirit,  no  life  of  godliness  in 
the  soul ;  the  man  is  the  slave  of  fear,  performing  his 
daily  task  from  the  dread  of  hell,  but  his  efforts  only 
the  more  effectually  bring  him  under  the  power  and 
punishment  of  sin.  The  very  attempt  thus  made  to 
merit  the  favour  of  God,  shuts  the  divine  life  out  of 


CONDITION  OF  RECONCILIATION  267 

the  man's  soul,  and  plunges  liim  into  deeper  degrada- 
tion, and  in  liis  religious  thoughts  and  feeling  there 
is  experienced  no  joy  of  soul. 

If,  again,  the  aroused  sinner,  instead  of  simply 
believing  the  pure  gospel,  clings  to  a  mixture  of 
gospel  truth,  with  suppositions  of  his  own,  then  does 
lie  cleave  to  "  another  gospel  which  is  yet  not  an- 
other," and  perplexity  is  the  result ;  he  is  not  indif- 
ferent, but  restless  and  unsatisfied ;  and  these  feelings 
are  greater  or  less  in  proportion  as  error  or  truth 
preponderate  in  his  mind.  He  cannot,  in  such  a  case, 
realise  peace  with  God  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost, 
but  only,  at  most,  false  confidence  or  fear. 

If,  further,  a  man  in  search  of  peace  wdth  Heaven, 
instead  of  believing  the  gospel,  look  to  his  own  inner 
state,  and  strives  by  prayer,  reading  of  God's  Word, 
and  attendance  on  the  means  of  grace,  all  good  and 
needful  things,  or,  if  he  strives  by  self-mortification 
and  righteous  deeds  to  obtain  the  peace  he  is  search- 
ing after,  then  disapjiointmeut  must  follow,  for  the 
man  only  labours  in  vain,  and  spends  his  strength  for 
nought:  he  is  blind  to  the  thino;s  which  belonsj  to 
his  peace.  Jesus  alone  can  speak  peace  to  his  labour- 
ing heart. 

How  much,  then,  depends  on  the  preaching  and 
believing  of  a  pure  gospel.  In  Christ  there  is  a  mine 
of  inexhaustible  treasure  to  unfold ;  the  relation  that 
subsists  between  Christ  and  the  Father,  between 
Christ  and  the  sinner,  between  Christ  and  the  be- 
liever, is  the  proper  work  of  the  pulpit,  and  it  is  a 
sufficient  work,  and  profitable  both  to  preacher  and 


268  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

liearer.  It  lias,  liowever,  sometimes  been  suggested 
tliat  the  pulpit  might  with  profit  be  turned  into  a 
platform,  and  the  sacred  hours  of  public  worship 
employed  for  the  purpose  of  speculation,  philosophical 
discussion,  and  literary  display.  Such  suggestions 
show  oreat  ionorance  and  infatuation,  and  to  encour- 
age  such  things  by  manifesting  a  taste  for  them,  and 
running  after  them,  on  the  part  of  the  professing- 
Christian,  is  no  less  fearful ;  it  is,  in  short,  spiritual 
madness.  We  would  repeat,  for  in  these  days  repeti- 
tion is  needful,  that  it  is  only  belief  of  the  ])nvQ, 
gospel  that  can  give  peace  to  the  heart  of  man.  This 
is  the  only  method  of  Heaven  to  secure  the  well- 
being  of  man.  It  is  in  Christ,  and  in  Him  alone, 
that  God  hath  abounded  towards  us  in  all  wisdom 
and  prudence,  and  in  no  other  way  can  the  spirit  of 
man  find  peace. 

It  is  clear,  then,  both  from  the  nature  of  reconcilia- 
tion itself,  and  the  teachiuof  of  revelation  concerning- 
it,  that  faith  is  an  essential  condition  to  its  realisation. 
The  believer  by  faith  receives  Christ,  and  in  this 
reception  he  receives  the  Divine  Sonship,  and  enjoys 
fellowship  with  His  Father.  Christ  is  the  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Father,  the  hypostasis  of  His  person  ; 
hence,  our  Lord  declares  "  he  that  hath  seen  Me  hath 
seen  the  Father  also,"  Christ  is  also  the  "  desire  of  all 
nations,"  for  He  meets  the  spiritual  wants  and  cravings 
of  our  race  after  a  divine  nature ;  and  thus  faith  is 
the  substance  ijiypostasis)  of  the  thing  hoped  for,  the 
salvation  lono;  desired. 

The   fact   that   the    writer    of  the  Epistle  to  the 


CONDITION  OF  RE  CONCILIA  T20N.  2  6  9 

Hebrews  uses  the  same  term  {liypostasis)  to  denote 
the  substance  of  the  Father's  person  and  the  believer's 
faith,  is  not  Avithout  interest ;  it  points  out  to  us  the 
union  and  basis  of  communion  which  subsists  between 
the  believer  and  God.  In  giving  this  hypostasis,  God 
gives  His  subjective  and  objective  to  the  believer,  and 
the  believer  in  receiving  it  becomes  one  with  the 
Father,  and  thus  faith  is  not  only  the  condition  but 
also  the  realisation  of  reconciliation.  "  With  open 
face  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the  Lord," 
the  believer  is  thus  "changed  into  the  same  image 
from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord."  Faith,  then,  we  repeat,  is  the  evidence  of  the 
thing  hoped  for,  the  conviction  of  the  unseen,  the 
condition  of  reconciliation,  the  measure  and  medium 
of  spiritual  and  divine  life  in  the  soul  of  man. 


(    270    ) 


CHAPTER  XV. 

AGENT  OF  RECONCILIATION. 

The  power  of  reconciliation  requires  an  agent  to 
apply  it.  Guilt,  as  we  have  seen,  is  such  an  awful 
thing,  that  it  cannot  be  looked  at  by  the  sinner  in 
itself,  and  as  attached  to  him.  It  can  calmly  be 
viewed  by  him  only  through  the  medium  of  an 
atonement,  i.e.,  in  the  reflected  light  of  that  power 
which  is  able  to  rescue  him  from  its  burden.  But 
even  with  the  aid  of  this  light,  the  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  the  sinner  contemplating  his  guilt  is  not  got 
over,  for  how  is  this  light  to  be  admitted  by  his 
diseased  organ  of  spiritual  vision  ?  in  other  words,  how 
is  the  sinner  to  be  got  to  contemplate  his  guilt,  even 
in  the  light  of  the  atoning  power  which  God  has 
provided  ?  This  power  of  reconciliation  is  discernible 
in  the  lio;ht  of  the  self-sacrificincr  of  the  Divine,  but 
how  is  the  sinner  to  be  brouo^ht  to  admire  God  in  the 
manifestation  of  His  self-sacrificino:  orace  ?  This  is 
the  manifestation  of  the  character  of  God  which, 
beyond  all  others,  is  most  repulsive  to  the  "carnal 
mind."  The  admiration  of  the  self-sacrificing  love  of 
God  requires,  on  the  part  of  him  who  would  admire 
this,  something  akin  to  it  in  his  own  heart.      This, 


A  GENT  OF  RE  CONCILIA  TION.  2  7 1 

however,  the  carnal  mind  abhors  and  from  which  it 
recoils.  Selfishness,  which  is  the  essence  of  the  carnal 
mind,  cannot  look  with  satisfaction  on  self-sacrificins: 
grace. 

How,  then,  is  the  diseased  organ  of  the  sinner  to  be 
brought  into  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of  self-sacri- 
ficing love,  that  he  may  be  able  to  repose  in  delightful 
contemplation  on  this  wonder  of  redeeming  grace  ? 
There  is  only  one  way  conceivable  in  which  the 
sinner  can  be  brouo-ht  to  love,  and  delight  himself  in 
view  of  the  self-sacrificing  love  of  God,  and  that  is 
by  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost — the  bringing  of 
the  subjective  of  the  sinner  into  a  oneness  wdth  the 
subjective  of  God.  Affinity  of  the  subjective  for  the 
objective  is  needful  to  the  discernment  of  the  objec- 
tive in  its  own  light.  Thus  a  subjective  sentient  is 
necessary  to  the  discernment  of  the  objects  of  sense, 
A  subjective  rational  is  necessary  to  the  perception 
of  objects  which  address  themselves  to  reason,  and  a 
subjective  divine  is  necessary  to  the  perception  of 
divine  things.  A  stone,  e.g.,  cannot  perceive  size, 
colour,  &c.  A  plant  or  an  irrational  animal  cannot 
perceive  the  force  of  an  argument.  So  neither  can 
the  "carnal  mind"  discern  the  glory  of  the  self-sacri- 
ficing, nor  realise  the  things  of  the  Spirit.  An  affinity 
of  spirit  with  Christ  is  necessary  to  tlie  perception  of 
"the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  for  the  natural  man 
receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  neither 
can  he  know  them,  for  they  are  spiritually  discerned." 

If  there  be  disease  instead  of  health  in  the  eye,  it 
will  neither   receive  the  rays  of  light,  nor  look  at 


272  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

objects  in  tlie  liglit.  It  matters  not  liow  lovely  tlie 
objects  may  be  wliicli  are  presented  to  it,  the  pain 
produced  by  tlie  light  will  force  it  to  slmt  up  itself  in 
darkness.  Ere  the  diseased  eye  can  be  made  to  look 
upon  objects  in  tlic  light,  there  must  be  such  an 
operation  performed  upon  it  as  shall  not  only  alleviate 
its  pain,  but  also  make  it  pleasant  to  look  at  the 
objects  presented  to  it.  Similarly  there  must  be  such 
an  operation  performed  on  the  spiritual  organ  of  the 
sinner's  vision,  as  shall  rescue  him  from  pain  in  the 
contemplation  of  the  self-sacrificing,  and  make  the 
beholding  of  God's  face  in  righteousness  the  joy  and 
rejoicing  of  his  heart. 

What,  then,  is  this  operation,  and  how  is  it  to  be 
effected  ?  It  is  the  quickening  of  the  heart  of  man 
with  the  love  of  the  self-sacrificing. 

Fallen  man  does  not  possess  the  love  of  "  the  truth 
as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  he,  on  the  contrary,  hates  the  light 
and  avoids  it  because  his  deeds  are  evil.  He  does 
not,  indeed,  hate  truth  in  the  abstract,  he  rather 
delights  in  speculative  knowledge,  nor  would  he  hate 
the  Divine  self-sacrificing  on  his  behalf  could  he 
clearly  see  it  in  its  own  radiance ;  but  this  is  just 
what  he  is  unable  to  do,  for  this  is  only  to  be  seen 
through  the  medium  of  the  consciousness  of  his  own 
inexcusable  guilt.  It  is  only  as  guilty  that  he  can 
accept  of  forgiveness,  and  it  is  only  as  he  sees  himself 
inexcusably  guilty  that  he  can  feel  truly  grateful  for 
such  self-sacrifice  on  his  behalf.  But  the  conscious- 
ness of  such  guilt  is  that  which  is  most  abhorrent  to 
the  carnal  mind ;  hence  to  imbibe  the  spirit  of  the 


A  GENT  OF  RE  CONCILIA  TION.  2  7  3 

self-sacrificing,  and  deliglit  in  its  deeds,  is  not  possible 
to  the  carnal  mind. 

The  ''carnal  mind"  rises  in  indignation  at  the  idea 
of  God  coming  to  it  in  the  im^^utation  of  sin,  and 
thus  the  "law  worketh  wrath."  This  is,  in  fact,  the 
inevitable  result  of  sin  in  the  experience  of  the 
natural  man  when  the  law  brings  home  to  him  the 
conviction  of  guilt.  Under  the  influence  of  divine 
truth  the  carnal  mind  cannot  but  prove  rebellious, 
and  it  does  so  in  accordance  with  the  analogy  referred 
to,  viz.,  that  as  the  clear  light  shining  into  the  weak 
or  diseased  eye  gives  pain,  and  causes  it  to  close  itself 
ao-ainst  the  lisfht,  so  the  lic:ht  of  the  radiance  that 
streams  from  the  self-sacrificing  love  of  God  pains  the 
guilty  spirit,  and  causes  it  to  rise  in  rebellion  against 
it  and  prefer  its  own  inner  darkness. 

Ere  the  truth  which  necessarily  discloses  the 
sinner's  character  to  himself  can  be  received  into  the 
heart  of  fallen  man,  the  love  of  it  must  be  implanted 
within  him,  for  if  he  hates  the  light,  no  exhibition  of 
light,  however  clear,  will  prevail  upon  him  to  receive 
it.  Even  the  merciful  tempering  of  the  truth  by  the 
work  of  the  Saviour  will  not  prevail  upon  the  sinner 
to  embrace  it  in  the  love  of  it,  for  even  the  loveliness 
of  this  manifestation  of  the  Divine  must  be  appre- 
hended through  the  conviction  of  guilt,  and  this  is 
the  conviction  which  above  all  others  the  sinner  dis- 
likes. In  order,  therefore,  to  the  sinner's  reconcilia- 
tion, there  must  not  only  be  the  creation  of  truth 
adapted  to  his  state  and  character,  but  there  must  also 

s 


274  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

be  the  quickening  of  his  heart  with  the  love  of  that 
truth. 

How,  then,  is  this  state  of  matters  to  be  brought 
about  in  the  life  of  the  sinner?  We  believe  that  this 
is  only  possible  through  the  implantation  of  a  new 
principle  of  life,  a  new  Christ-like  disposition,  a  new 
bias  or  bent  being  given  to  our  whole  spiritual  nature. 
In  the  change  which  thus  takes  place,  and.  with  a  view 
to  it,  God  comes  to  us  by  His  Spirit  and  awakens 
within  us  holy  emotions,  God-like  desires,  as  He  works 
faith  in  us  leading  us  to  endorse  and  act  out  these 
inner  risings,  as  He  works  in  us  to  will  and  to  do  of 
His  own  good  pleasure. 

The  Spirit  of  God,  the  agent  of  man's  regeneration, 
comes  to  him  with  "  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  and 
holds  it  up  before  the  gaze  of  the  human  spirit  while 
by  His  own  immediate  act  He  touches  the  organ  of 
God-consciousness,  and  quickens  the  springs  of  vitality 
in  the  soul  with  the  love  of  the  Divine.  In  this  w^ork 
let  it  be  borne  in  mind  the  Spirit  of  God  does  not  act 
irrespective  of,  or  in  opposition  to,  man's  nature,  but 
through  means  of  it,  and  in  entire  accordance  with  the 
free  agency  of  man.  God  will  in  no  way  overlook 
these  things  in  any  of  His  dealings  with  man,  for,  as 
man  fell  in  the  exercise  of  his  free  responsible  nature, 
so  must  he  rise  in  full  accordance  of  the  same  thing. 

The  consciousness  of  man  bears  out  the  doctrine  of 
God's  "Word  on  this  important  matter,  for  conscious- 
ness reveals  to  man  Ijoth  the  facts  and  the  extent  of 
the  Spirit's  working  in  him,  and,  although  he  may 
not  be  very  quick  to  discern  these  facts  now,  he  shall 


A  GENT  OF  RE  CONCILIA  TION  2  7  5 

afterwards  be  made  fully  aware  of  them.  All  wlio 
have  ever  lived  under  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  are 
aware  of  the  fact,  that  there  has  been  in  them  at  one 
time  or  another  the  feeling  after  a  better  state  of 
beinof  and  condition  of  life,  the  awakenino;  within 
them  of  conviction  of  sin,  and  the  stirring  up  of  holy 
dispositions.  Now,  Avhence  came  these  inner  risings  ? 
Not  surely  of  Satan,  the  w^orld,  or  the  corrupt  heart 
of  man.  Certainly  not  of  the  sinner  himself,  in  any 
sense,  for  this  inspiration  of  heavenly  thought  and 
desire  is  in  direct  opposition  to  the  natural  tendencies 
of  his  heart,  and  as  like  produce  like,  these  cannot  be 
the  product  of  the  "carnal  mind."  These  risings  are 
the  beginnings  of  the  most  precious  possession  which 
the  finite  can  ever  hold,  and  in  comparison  with  them 
the  whole  world  is  but  as  a  trifle  to  man.  They  are 
the  beginnings  of  the  greatest  work  God  Himself  can 
accomplish,  and  with  a  view  to  produce  them,  the 
Spirit  submits  to  resistance  and  grief;  and  to  supply 
the  Spirit  with  the  power  of  awakening  these  risings, 
the  Son  of  God  shed  His  blood ;  and  to  die  the  death, 
the  Father  sent  the  Son  into  the  world. 

And  every  man  is  conscious  of  how  he  treats  these 
inner  risings  of  the  heavenly  and  Divine,  he  knows 
whether  he  neglects,  pays  little  or  no  attention  to 
them,  resists,  or  cherishes  them  in  his  heart.  If  we 
cherish  and  strengthen  these  inner  risings  in  our 
hearts,  then  do  we  yield  ourselves  up  to  the  Spirit  of 
God,  who  works  in  us  thus  to  wdll  and  to  do  of  God's 
good  pleasure.  He  takes  up  His  abode  in  us,  and 
we  become,  through  His  indwelling,   temples  of  the 


2  76  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

livini>-  God.  But  if,  instead  of  fosterinor  tliese  risiiio-s, 
tlie  sinner  strives  to  rid  himself  of  tliem,  then  does 
lie  resist  and  grieve,  and,  perhaps,  finally  quench  the 
Spirit,  and  iu  the  cud  it  happens  in  his  case,  that 
these  awful  words  are  applicable  to  him,  "  Whosoever 
speaketh  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  not  be 
forgiven  him,  neither  in  this  world,  nor  in  the  world 
to  come." 

In  resisting  the  inner  risings  of  the  Spirit,  the 
sinner  refuses  to  repent  and  be  converted,  he  prefers 
his  own  way  to  the  righteousness  of  God,  and  tries 
to  vindicate  himself  by  an  endeavour  to  roll  the  odium 
of  his  state  over  on  God,  and  in  doing  so  he  insults 
the  Almighty  to  His  face.  In  refusing  to  believe 
on  the  Son  of  God,  the  unbeliever  commits  the  most 
heinous  sin  that  can  be  committed  by  any  creature ; 
a  sin  which  goes  beyond  anything  in  the  power  of 
demon  or  devil  to  do ;  he  disobeys  the  highest  man- 
date of  his  Father  in  heaven,  he  treats  lightly  the 
most  striking  display  of  Divine  authority,  resists  the 
persuasive  influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  despises 
the  compassion  and  mercy  of  God. 

To  be  guilty  of  all  this  is  to  commit  the  sin  which 
is  unto  death,  which  those  who  are  born  of  God  can- 
not commit.  The  inability  to  commit  this  sin  is  one 
of  the  differences  that  exist  between  the  reo^enerate 
and  the  unregenerate.  The  uuregenerate  ever  strive 
to  justify  themselves  by  attempting  to  make  God  the 
real  author  of  sin,  whereas  the  regenerate,  whensoever 
they  detect  themselves  in  sin,  instead  of  striving  to 
justify  themselves,  confess  and  bewail  their  sin.     "I 


A  GENT  OF  RE  CONCILIA  TION.  2  7  7 

acknowledge  my  sin  unto  Tliee,  and  mine  iniquity 
have  I  not  liid.  I  said  I  will  confess  my  transgres- 
sion unto  tlie  Lord,  and  Tliou  forgavest  tlie  iniquity 
of  my  sin."  This  is  the  view  of  sin  and  its  guilt, 
so  far  as  we  can  see,  that  alone  can  sustain  the  con- 
sistency of  St.  John,  and,  indeed,  the  unity  of  reve- 
lation. John  w^rites,  "  If  we  say  that  we  have  not 
sinned,  we  make  Him  a  liar,  and  His  word  is  not  in 
us."  And  again  in  another  place,  "Whosoever  is 
born  of  God  doth  not  commit  sin,  for  His  seed 
remaineth  in  him,  and  he  cannot  sin  because  he  is 
born  of  God. 

The  method,  above  indicated,  of  dealing  with  these 
texts  removes  their  apparent  contradiction.  There  is 
sin  in  the  believer  which  is  forgiven,  and  there  is  sin 
in  the  impenitent  which  is  never  forgiven.  And,  we 
may  ask,  how  can  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  be 
forgiven  ?  This,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  is  im- 
possible ;  the  Holy  Ghost  is  sinned  against  only  by 
stifling  the  inner  risings  of  the  heavenly  and  divine 
vrhich  He  awakens  within  the  sinner,  and  it  is  only 
throuo'h  these  that  He  can  calm  the  inner  discord,  and 
secure  reconciliation  with  the  Father  of  spirits.  K, 
therefore,  the  sinner  persists  in  keeping  down  these 
risings,  how  can  he  realise  the  divine  life  within  him? 
And,  if  he  persists  in  quenching  them  until  he  has 
steeled  his  heart  against  all  impressions  of  the  Divine, 
there  is  no  power  in  the  universe  of  God  that  can 
rescue  his  soul  from  hell. 

All  life  has,  as  our  readers  know,  its  beginning  in 
the  embryo  state,  and  is  at  first  very  feeble.     If  the 


278  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

embryo  be  clierisLecl,  it  develops  itself  into  the  vigour 
of  maturity  ;  but  if  it  be  neglected  or  crushed,  it 
2:)erishes.  How  important,  then,  that  the  sinner's 
attention  should  be  clearly  directed  to  this  fact  in  its 
spiritual  bearings.  Man  has  not  the  power  to  create, 
he  can  only  indirectly  produce  life ;  and  in  no  way 
can  he  produce  his  own  life  in  any  of  its  departments, 
•sentient,  intellectual,  or  spiritual.  But  while  he  can- 
not produce  his  life,  he  may  ruin  or  destroy  it  as 
truly  as  he  can  ruin  or  destroy  the  lives  of  others  ; 
and  here  he  wields  a  tremendous  power,  and  incurs  a 
proportionate  resjDonsibility.  To  this  corresponds  the 
doctrine  of  Scripture — "this,"  says  Jesus,  "is  the  con- 
demnation, that  light  is  come  into  the  world,  and  men 
loved  darkness  rather  than  light,  because  their  deeds 
were  evil."  And  herein  lies  the  dread  responsibility 
of  the  sinner ;  he  cannot  atone  for  his  sins,  nor  discover 
the  truth  which  is  to  euliorhten  his  mind  in  regard  to 
the  mercy  of  God,  nor  procure  the  influence  of  the 
Spirit  of  all  grace  ;  but  he  can  quench  the  risings  of 
the  Spirit  in  his  heart. 

In  this  fact  the  preacher  has  a  powerful  hold  on  the 
conscience,  for  he  can  convict  the  sinner  of  quenching 
the  inner  risings  of  the  Divine,  and  clearly  show  to 
him  that  he  is  committing  a  grievous  form  of  sin. 
He  can  drive  him  out  of  his  refuge  of  lies,  in  connec- 
tion with  abstract  questions  about  Divine  decrees,  &c., 
and  show  him  that  in  the  consciousness  of  these  inner 
risings  he  has  the  evidence  that  God  is  dealing  with 
him  personally  in  the  matter  of  his  salvation,  and 
that,  if  he  continues  to  resist  God  in  His  gracious 


A  GENT  OF  RE  CONCILIA  TION  2  7  9 

work,  lie  not  only  commits  an  awful  sin,  but  will 
carry  in  liis  own  bosom  to  the  Judgment  Seat  a  wit- 
ness tliat  will  rise  to  condemn  liim. 

But  to  proceed.  In  vision,  there  must  be  the 
object  to  be  seen,  the  light  in  which  it  is  to  be 
viewed,  and  the  eye  which  is  to  look  upon  it  in  the 
light.  If  there  be  no  object,  there  can  be  no  vision ; 
or,  if  there  be  an  object  and  no  light,  there  can  be  no 
vision ;  or,  if  there  be  no  eye,  or  an  eye  diseased,  there 
will  be  no  vision,  or  at  best  a  distorted  one.  If  the 
diseased  eye  is  to  be  brought  into  a  healthy  state,  it 
must  be  healed  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  health, 
and  not  in  opposition  to  these ;  and  if  it  is  to  see 
clearly,  it  must  be  led  to  look  at  the  object  in  the 
light,  in  accordance  with  the  laws  or  principles  of 
human  vision.  This  point  may  be  illustrated  by  a 
reference  to  photograi^hy,  in  which  art  the  image  of 
the  human  f;xce  is  conveyed  to  a  sensitive  sheet. 
First  of  all,  the  image  is  transferred  to  a  prepared 
plate,  and  then  from  that  to  the  prepared  sheet. 
Here  we  have,  then,  the  countenance,  the  image  of 
which  is  to  be  transcribed,  then  the  prepared  j)late 
which  is  to  receive  the  image,  and  further,  the  light 
which  is  t^  transfer  the  image,  and  finally,  the  agent 
who  is  to  bring  the  countenance  into  such  a  relation 
to  the  sensitive  plate  as  that  the  light  shall  transfer 
the  image  correctly.  If  there  be  no  countenance, 
there  can  be  no  image  to  transcribe ;  if  there  be  no 
light,  there  can  be  no  transcription  of  an  image  ;  if 
there  be  no  prepared  plate  to  record  and  retain  the 
image,   there   can  be  no  likeness  obtained  and  pre- 


28o  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

served ;  or,  finally,  if  there  be  no  agent  to  bring  tlie 
prepared  plate  into  the  j^roper  focus  for  receiving  the 
image,  there  can  be  no  photograph. 

Thus  is  it,  spiritually,  in  order   to    faith    in   the 

mercy  of  God,  there  must  be  the  manifestation  of  His 

self-sacrificing  love,  the  record  of  that  manifestation, 

a  heart  also  in  a  state   of  sufficient  jDrejDaration  to 

receive  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and,  in  addition, 

an  agent  to  bring  the  heart  into  the  state  in  Avhich 

it  shall  be  willing  to  receive  the  truth   in  the  love 

of  it.     If  the  heart  be  not  prepared  with  a  view  to 

the  rece^^tion  of  the  truth,  then  in  vain  may  you  look 

for  an  attentive  listening  to  it.     Disposition  to  attend 

to  the   truth,  and  an  inclination  to   receive  it,  is  a 

primary  element  of  faith  in  Jesus,  hence  it  is  written 

of  those  who  perish,  that  they  perish  because  they 

"  received  not  the  love  of  the  truth,  that  they  must 

be  saved,"  and  thus  the  Saviour  addresses  those  that 

rejected  Him.     "Ye  will  not  come  unto  Me,  that  ye 

might  have  life."     "The  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus"  can 

be  received  into  the  heart  only  where  there  is  love  to 

it,  and  the  producing  of  this  love  is  the  work  of  the 

Holy  Ghost.      In  brief,  the  AVord  of  God  everywhere 

teaches    the    doctrine   that   the    Holy    Spirit   is  the 

Author  of  everything  gracious  and  holy  in  man  ;  and 

that  through  His  operation  alone,  are  we  reconciled 

to  God  by  the  death  of  His  Son. 


(28l    ) 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

CAPACITY  OF   THE   HUMAN  FOR    THE   INDWELLING   OF 

THE   DIVINE, 

God  fills  immensity,  but  neitlicr  immensity  nor  tlie 
material  universe  which  space  contains  have  any 
capacity  for  the  indwelling  of  God.  God  can  only 
impart  Himself  to,  and  dwell  in,  those  who  have  been 
made  in  His  own  image,  for  example,  His  offspring, 
man.  God  is  the  Father  of  our  spirits,  and  to  prove 
Himself  to  be  such,  is  the  one  great  end  of  all  His 
doin2;s. 

A  father,  as  such,  cannot  impart  himself  to  the 
locality  in  which  he  dwells,  the  time  in  which  he  lives, 
the  goods  and  chattels  which  he  possesses,  the  ser- 
vants he  employs,  or  the  friends  with  whom  ho 
associates ;  these  have  no  receptivity  for  him  in  his 
outgoings  as  a  father.  A  father  can  only  impart 
himself  to  his  children,  realise  in  them  his  paternal 
delight,  and  be  fully  satisfied  in  his  intercourse  with 
them.  And  to  beget  children  in  his  own  image,  and 
to  delight  himself  in  them,  has  been  the  profound 
thought  and  cherished  purpose  of  Godhead  from  un- 
beffl'nninG;  ao^es. 

Immensity  and  duration  have  nothing  of  God  in 


282  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

them,  tlie  countless  worlds  that  are  spread  out  in 
the  fields  of  space  have  nothing  of  the  Divine  in 
their  constitution.  The  various  orders  of  sentient 
and  animated  tribes  have  nothing  of  the  spiritual  in 
them.  The  angelic  hosts  have  nothing  of  the  re- 
deemed filial  in  them.  These  have  no  divine  capacity 
such  as  man,  no  receptivity  nor  filial  instincts  like 
his.  God  can  look  abroad  with  admiration  on 
the  work  of  His  hands,  and  meditate  on  the  purpose 
of  His  mind,  but  it  is  only  in  His  child,  man,  created 
in  His  own  image,  that  His  heart  can  rest  satisfied. 
On  man  alone  He  lingers  with  Divine  complacency, 
while  He  calls  this  portion  of  His  work  "very 
good." 

Vast  and  immeasurable  as  are  space  and  eternity, 
God  cannot  stamp  Himself  upon  tliem.  Great  and 
glorious  as  irrational  creation  is,  God  cannot  impart 
His  life  to  it.  High  and  holy  as  the  heavenly  hosts 
are,  God  cannot  create  them  anew  in  the  image  of 
His  Son.  Acting  in  accordance  with  the  nature  of 
things,  God  fills  immensity  with  His  presence,  and 
dwells  in  eternity,  calls  creation  into  being,  and 
employs  His  angels  as  "ministering  spirits,"  but  He 
inbreathes  the  breath  of  life  only  into  man,  and  begets 
in  the  renewed  spirit  His  own  life.  Space  is  His 
chamber.  Eternity  the  measure  of  His  days,  Crea- 
tion the  manifestation  of  His  power  and  goodness, 
but  humanity  is  His  offspring,  the  true  image  of 
Himself.  He  holds  no  fellowship  with  space  and 
eternity,  nor  can  these  be  filled  with  all  the  fulness 
of  God.     The  heaven  of  heavens  cannot  contain  Him, 


INDWELLING  OF  TILE  DLVLNE.  283 

and  yet  tlie  finite  spirit  of  man  can.  He  dwells 
incarnate  in  the  temple  of  liumanity.  He  reigns  in 
the  hearts  of  His  children,  and  rests  in  the  love  of 
the  redeemed.  Beyond  this  He  has  no  desire,  "  This 
is  My  rest  for  ever,  here  will  I  dwell  for  I  have 
desired  it." 

But  God  dwells  not  in  the  heart  of  all  humanity. 
Fallen  humanity  has  a  capacity,  but  not  a  receptivity 
for  God.  The  capabilities  of  fallen  man  are  guarded 
against  the  entrance  of  God  by  the  demon  spirit  and 
corrupt  passions  of  sin,  and  his  intellect  is  closed  by 
prejudice  against  the  entrance  of  the  truth.  The  life 
of  fallen  man  is  consecrated  to  the  service  of  self,  and 
thus  it  happens  that  the  nature  wdiich  is  nearest  to 
God's  own,  is  at  the  same  time  at  the  farthest  possible 
distance  from  Him ;  and  in  its  fallen  condition  all  the 
glorious  possibilities  of  which  it  is  capable  are  lost. 
We  may,  therefore,  well  exclaim,  "  Oh,  what  a  spectacle 
to  the  eye  of  Omniscience  is  rebel  humanity  ! "  A 
child  of  immortality,  an  heir  of  God,  created  in  the 
likeness  of  the  Father  of  spirits,  gifted  with  capacity 
for  the  indwelling  of  the  Divine,  and  capable  of  enter- 
ing into  fellowship  with  God,  absorbed  in  self,  in  love 
wdth  the  carnal,  and  governed  by  a  spirit  defiant  of 
God,  engrossed  with  the  cares  of  a  purely  earthly  life, 
and  alone  anxious  to  satisfy  itself  with  the  things  of 
sense  and  the  efi"orts  of  vain  glorying. 

But  all  this  was  foreseen,  and  a  purpose  formed  for 
the  casting  out  of  Satan  from  the  heart,  and  for  the 
entire  regeneration  of  the  spirit  of  man  into  the  life 
of  God.      With  this  end  in  view  the  incarnation  in 


284  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

the  fulness  of  the  time  was  resolved  upon  in  order  to 
overcome  the  powers  of  darkness  ere  man  was  brought 
into  existence,  and  to  exhibit  what  humanity  in  union 
with  divinity  was  capable  of  becoming.  The  sacri- 
ficial death  of  the  Son  of  God  was  determined  on,  and 
the  striving  of  the  Holy  Ghost  secured,  to  overcome 
the  rebellious  disposition. 

That  a  spirit  created  for  the  indwelling  of  God 
should  be  the  subject  of  aversion  and  dislike  to  the 
Godlike,  and  the  abode  of  demons,  is  certainly  a  deep 
mystery  and  matter  of  amazement.  Yet  the  awful 
fact  is  patent  to  the  observation  of  all,  and  cannot  be 
denied.  But  that,  on  the  other  hand,  a  father  should 
mourn  over  the  disobedience  of  a  child,  and  desire  the 
recovery  of  a  lost  son,  and  earnestly  exert  himself 
with  a  view  to  his  recovery ;  that  a  father  should 
display  the  highest  perfections  of  his  being  in  the 
reclaiming  of  his  lost  child,  and  rejoice  with  his  most 
sacred  joy  over  his  recovery;  this  at  least  should 
be  no  matter  of  amazement  to  the  possessor  of 
humanity,  while  it  is  a  matter  of  the  highest  encour- 
airement  to  the  sinner. 

And  that  the  life  of  one  reclaimed  from  sin,  and  re- 
stored to  his  father's  favour,  should  be  more  grateful, 
and  watchful,  and  fervent  in  devotion,  is  quite  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  nature  and  experience  of  man  ;  but 
the  perversion  of  sin  prevents  even  the  renewed  son 
from  altogether  acting  upon  this  confidence,  as  becomes 
him,  in  the  present  state. 

The  spirit  of  pride  must  be  broken  and  crushed, 
banished  from  the   heart  ere   God  can   dwell  in  it, 


INDWELLING  OF  THE  DIVINE.  285 

or  work  in  it  by  love.     God  cannot  dwell  where  there 
is  unrighteousness,  or  a  spirit  which  cherishes  mean 
grovelling   dispositions.      The   spirit  in   which   these 
dwell  is  more  distant  from  God  than  even  material 
heino;  or  sentient  life.     But  all  that  is  needed  to  save 
the  sinner,  and  raise  his  soul  to  the  loftiest  condition 
of  finite  existence,  is  simply  to  expel  the  rel3el  spirit 
from    the    soul,    and    enthrone    God    on  the   heart. 
"Blessed   are   the  poor  in   spirit,  for  theirs   is   the 
kingdom  of  heaven."    Yes,  this  rebel  disposition,  now 
that  Christ  has  ascended,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  de- 
scended, is  the  only  obstacle,  the  one  grand  impedi- 
ment, to  the  salvation  of  every  soul  of  man  unsaved. 
Everything    that  the  nature  of  the  case   requires  is 
present,  and  has  been  provided  for ;  there  is  in  every 
human  spirit   a    capacity   deep  as  the  Infinite,   and 
abiding  as  the  Eternal.     There  is  in  the  heart  of  the 
Father  a  desire  g-racious  as  His  own  self-sacrificiiio; 
love,  restrained  in  its  operation   only  by  the  limits 
imposed  by  the  individual  capacity  of  man ;  there  is 
in  the    Son   a  boundless   sufficiency ;    and   there   is 
in  the  Spirit  an  infinite  readiness.     But  in  opposition 
to   this,   the   capacity  of  the  human  is  filled  with 
a  spirit  of  antagonism  to  God,  which  guards  its  every 
avenue  against  the  entrance  of  the  Spirit  of  God ;  and 
to  expel  this  usurper  from  the  throne  of  the  human 
heart,  requires  all  the  skill,  prudence,  and  omnipotence 
of  the  God  of  grace.     For  as  man  freely  drank  in  the 
spirit    of   darkness,    and   willingly    entered   into    an 
alliance   with  the  enemy  of  God,  so  must  he  also 
freely  drink  in  the  spirit  of  holiness,  and  as  willingly 


2S6  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIIE. 

"  kiss  the  Son  "  in  Lis  return  to  tlie  Father,  and  in 
yielding  himself  up  to  the  reigning  powers  of  God's 
grace. 

A  physician  has  a  satisfaction  pure  and  deep  in 
restoring  his  patient  to  health  ;  a  teacher  has  a  like 
satisfaction  in  aiding  the  progress  of  his  pupil  in 
education  ;  but  the  father's  joy  surpasses  them  all 
in  seeing  his  child  grow  up  in  health  and  happiness  ; 
and  so  of  the  Heavenly  Physician,  Teacher,  and 
Father.  The  physician  knows  that  his  patient  is 
sick,  and  treats  him  not  as  convalescent.  The  teacher 
knows  that  his  pupil  has  only  made  some  progress  in 
learning,  and  so  he  treats  him  not  as  an  accomplished 
scholar.  The  father  understands  the  inexperience  of 
childhood  and  youth,  and  with  tenderness  guides  his 
son  not  as  an  adult,  but  as  a  child ;  and  on  this  prin- 
ciple acts  the  Heavenly  Father,  Teacher,  and  Spiritual 
Physician. 

There  are  to  be  overcome  in  the  believer,  the  weak- 
ness, awkwardness,  and  inexperience  of  an  imperfect 
sanctification,  for  these  chiefly  stand  in  the  way  of 
his  constant  and  unqualified  reception  of  tlie  Divine. 
Hence  Christ  will  always  have  to  say  to  His  disciples 
to  the  end  of  the  age,  "  I  have  many  things  to  say 
unto  you,  but  you  cannot  bear  them  now." 

The  disciples  of  every  age  have  manifested  a  greater 
readiness  to  bring  Christ  over  to  their  notions,  than 
an  eagerness  implicitly  to  drink  in  His  spirit,  and  to 
be  conformed  to  Him  in  all  their  ways.  To  yield 
unqualifiedly  the  spirit  and  life,  to  the  reception  of 


INDWELLING  OF  THE  DIVINE.  287 

tlie  Diviue,  is  all  that  tlie  quickened  spirit  needs  to 
its  complete  glory  and  joy,  but  the  disciples  on  cartli 
have  not  yet  learned  how  to  comply  with  the  simple 
and  important  necessity  of  their  wellbeing,  hence 
there  is  no  truth  more  important  for  us  to  realise 
than  this,  viz.,  that  God  is  possessed  of  all  the  influ- 
ence and  instrumentality  necessary  for  the  complete 
salvation  of  every  believer  ;  that  He  has  perfectly 
formed  His  plan  ;  that  He  kindly  cherishes  His  pur- 
pose, and  that  He  works  by  His  Spirit  in  the  heart 
of  every  believer,  to  will  and  to  do  of  His  good 
pleasure ;  and  that  all  that  is  now  needed  on  the  part 
of  His  children,  is  their  hearty  co-working  with  Him, 
in  His  carrying  out  into  completion  the  gracious  and 
glorious  design  of  His  heart,  to  fill  them  "  with  all 
the  fulness  of  God." 

God,  in  the  transformation  of  the  spirit,  and  re- 
newal of  the  life  of  man,  is  working  out  the  high 
problems  of  His  grace,  to  the  admiration  and  delight 
of  "the  principalities  and  powers  in  heavenly 
places."  He  does  not  look  upon  His  redeemed  ofl- 
spring  as  slaves  to  be  treated  as  property,  nor  as 
subjects  to  be  reigned  over,  nor  as  friends  to  be 
occasionally  visited,  but  as  children,  part  of  His  own 
household,  to  whose  education  and  training  He  con- 
secrates Himself.  To  renew  the  life  and  raise  the 
spirit  of  man  to  more  than  its  pristine  purity  ;  to 
impress  on  the  human  soul  divine  perfection,  in 
higher  measure  than  He  has  impressed  it  on  angel 
nature,    and   to   quicken  the  human  with  His  own 


2S5  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

divine  life,  is  the  great  end  He  lias  in  view  in  all  His 
doino;s. 

In  all  tills,  tlie  Heavenly  Father  in  the  midst  of  His 
family  is  not  an  imperial  ruler,  He  is  simply  the 
Father  in  all  His  infinite  tenderness,  unfolding  to 
them  His  divine  perfections,  and  imparting  to  them 
His  inmost  life.  He  not  only  causes  streams  of  light 
from  His  outer  works  to  illuminate  their  understand- 
ing, but  He  also  j^ours  forth  emanations  of  His  own 
blessed  life  into  them  up  to  the  measure  of  their 
capacity  of  reception.  He  not  only  transcribes  on  the 
spirit  the  lineaments  of  His  life,  but  He  also  fills 
them  with  His  own  indwelling  person. 

No  thoughtful  father  is  satisfied  merely  with  the 
birth  and  embrace  of  a  son,  his  desire  and  aim  is  to 
raise  that  son  to  the  closest  and  fullest  enjoyment  of 
his  own  life,  and  he  would  be  pained  in  the  highest 
degree  were  he  to  see  him  rising  into  a  life  of  rebellion 
against  him.  Nor  is  the  desire  of  the  Divine  Father, 
in  reference  to  His  children,  different  from  the  desire 
of  the  genuine  affections  of  an  earthly  joarent.  And 
of  this  fact,  God  has  given  the  most  amj)le  proof  in 
all  that  aj^pertains  to  the  redemption  of  the  world  by 
Jesus  Christ. 

AVho,  then,  can  fully  estimate  the  grandeur  and 
importance  of  the  sinner's  conversion  to  God  ?  It  is 
the  commencement  of  the  ascent  of  the  immortal 
spirit  of  man  through  the  descent  of  the  Eternal  Son 
of  God  into  this  region  of  dead  souls  ;  it  is  the  reali- 
sation of  spiritual  poverty,  through  the  action  of  the 


INDWELLING  OF  THE  DIVINE.  289 

qiiickeDing  Spirit ;  the  return  of  tlie  prodigal  son  to 
his  gracious  Father,  through  the  drawing  near  of  the 
love  of  God  ;  it  is  the  yielding  up  of  the  life  to  God 
through  a  perception  and  reception  of  "  the  truth  as 
it  is  in  Jesus." 

How  great,  then,  is  the  capacity  of  the  human  for 
the  Divine  !  and  how  lofty  the  dignity  of  the  inner 
life  of  man,  as  quickened  and  led  by  the  S|)irit  of 
God  !  How  ravishing  the  fellowship  of  the  filial  circle, 
drawn  around  the  Father  in  His  house  of  "many 
mansions !  "  and  what  is  there  that  the  sons  of  God 
can  be  denied,  if  it  is  at  all  consistent  with  their  well- 
being  ? 

The  filial  heart  is  the  best  of  all  blessings  which 
man  can  possess ;  let  him  acquire  what  he  may,  and 
attain  to  whatever  he  may  set  his  heart  upon,  if  he  is 
without  the  filial  heart  he  is  an  imperfect,  restless, 
dissatisfied  being.  The  production  of  this  heart,  how- 
ever, is  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  striving  with 
the  sinner,  quickening  his  spirit,  and  energising  his 
risen  life.  And  this  work  of  the  Spirit  in  the  spirit 
of  man  is  the  most  God-like  production  of  the  God- 
head,— the  work  of  God,  travelling  in  the  greatness 
of  His  strength,  mighty  to  save  ;  and  not  without  good 
reason  might  the  Saviour  ask,  "  What  is  a  man  profited 
if  he  should  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own 
soul  ?  and  what  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his 
soul ? " 

The  filial  heart  of  man  is  that  alone  of  all  finite 
being  which  can  give  the  full  response  to  God  as  the 
Father.     And  it  is  that  which  God  values  most.    His 

T 


290  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

Father-heart  can  rest  in  nothing  short  of  the  per- 
fection of  the  filial  heart  in  His  childr-en,  and  the 
reason  it  can  be  satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  this, 
is  to  be  found  in  the  nature  of  the  Father's  heart,  and 
in  that  alone. 


(  291  ) 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

RECEPTION  OF  CHRIST. 

If  the  human  spirit  is  ushered  into  conscious  life  in 
a  state  of  aversion  to  the  Godlike,  and  if  the  man 
grows  up  in  a  state  of  error,  and  in  conflict  with  the 
manifestations  of  the  Divine,  with  which  mankind  has 
been  favoured,  then  must  he  descend  in  the  scale 
of  life,  and  become  the  subject  of  torment  to  himself 
and  a  power  of  injury  to  others.  If,  however,  the 
fouudation  of  a  new  course  of  life  is  laid  within  him, 
if  he  becomes  the  possessor  of  new  biasses  in  the 
direction  of  holiness  by  the  implantation  of  a  new 
principle  of  life,  then  must  he  rise  in  the  scale  of 
being ;  and  this  state  man  realises  and  attains  to 
in  yielding  himself  up  to  the  Spirit  of  God,  in  his 
acceptance  of  Christ  through  belief  "  of  the  truth  as 
it  is  in  Jesus." 

In  all  cases,  as  is  well  known,  the  reception  of 
anything  is  determined  by  the  nature  of  the  thing 
received.  Our  reception  of  a  friend  is  conditioned  by 
the  laws  or  usages  of  friendship.  Our  reception  of 
wealth  is  among  other  things  conditioned  on  our 
steady  application  to  business,  &c.  Our  acceptance 
of  health  is  conditioned  on  our  attendance  to  the  laws 


293  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE.  ■ 

of  health.  And  a  simihxr  statemeut  may  be  made 
relative  to  all  the  things  we  are  capable  of  receiving 
and  enjoying. 

And  as  it  is  socially  so  is  it  spiritually.  Our 
reception  of  Christ  is  also  conditioned,  and,  according 
to  the  point  of  view  from  which  we  regard  Him,  is 
the  condition  of  the  reception  which  is  accorded.  As 
is  well  known,  Christ  may  be  received  historically, 
ecclesiastically,  and  spiritually.  Holding  the  gospel 
narratives  as  true  accounts,  is  the  condition  of 
receiving  Christ  historically,  Eegarding  Christ  as 
the  founder  of  the  Church,  and  professing  belief  in 
His  doctrines,  is  the  condition  of  receiving  Him 
ecclesiastically.  And  believing  Him  to  be  the  Son 
of  God  to  the  saving  of  the  soul,  is  the  condition  of 
receiving  Him  spiritually.  This  latter,  of  course, 
overlaps  the  two  former  modes  of  viewing  Him. 

The  careful  observer  of  human  life  can  have  no 
doubt  of  the  fact  that  some  men  change  in  the  spirit 
of  their  lives,  become  the  subjects  of  new  dispositions, 
and  are  influenced  and  actuated  by  difierent  princi- 
ples from  those  which  formerly  governed  them. 
Some  profane  persons  become  pious,  some  infidels 
become  believing,  some  implacable  become  merciful, 
some  licentious  become  pure,  some  intemperate 
become  temperate,  some  vicious  become  virtuous, 
and  some  slothful  become  energetic.  And  this 
change  in  their  lives  is  affected,  not  merely  or  chiefly 
by  a  resolve  or  an  idea  taking  possession  of  them, 
but  by  a  new  disposition,  a  new  spirit  produced  in 
them  by  the  Holy  Ghost  in  leading  them  to  receive 


RECEPTION  OF  CHRIST.  293 

tlie  Son  of  God.  The  clianges  usually  effected  in 
men's  lives  by  means  of  new  ideas  are  transient ; 
whereas,  the  change  accomplished  in  receiving  a  new 
spirit  is  permanent,  and  this  is  realised  through 
means  of  a  man's  acceptance  of  Christ, 

To  receive  Christ  spiritually  as  already  indicated, 
we  must  receive  Him  as  the  Son  of  God,  and  yield 
ourselves  up  to  the  influence  of  this  truth  plied  by 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Keceiving  Christ  thus,  we  receive 
Him  in  His  Spirit,  and  become  one  with  Him,  "  He 
that  is  joined  to  the  Lord  is  one  Spirit." 

When  Christ  ascended  on  high  He  received  gifts 
for  men,  even  for  the  rebellious  ;  and  the  first  gift 
which  He  received  was  the  great  Aj^-ent  of  man's 
salvation,  viz.,  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  first  great 
manifestation  of  this  gift  was  on  the  first  Pentecost 
after  His  Ascension.  And  the  work  of  this  great 
Agent  is  to  bring  sinners  to  the  faith  of  the  Gospel, 
and  then  to  take  up  His  abode  in  the  believer's  heart 
with  a  view  to  enlighten  him,  and  satisfy  him  with 
the  joys  of  salvation.  Hence,  when  the  Spirit  works 
in  the  believer  the  good- will  of  God,  he  bears  witness 
with  his  Spirit  that  he  is  a  child  of  God,  and  seals 
him  to  the  day  of  redemption.  And,  until  a  man 
has  this  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  His,  he  has  no 
spiritual  life  in  him,  but  in  receiving  the  Spirit  he 
becomes  alive  from  the  dead,  and  lives  unto  God  in 
newness  of  life. 

By  receiving  Christ  in  his  spirit,  the  believer 
receives  Him  in  his  mind.  It  is  the  function  of  the 
Spirit  to  take  the  things  which  are  Christ's,  and  show 


294  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

them  unto  the  believer.  "  He  shall  glorify  me,"  says 
Jesus,  "  for  he  shall  receive  of  Mine,  aod  shall  show  it 
unto  you." 

We  receive  the  mind  of  Christ,  not  by  speculation, 
nor  by  vain  dreaming,  nor  by  human  tradition,  nor  by 
the  study  of  nature,  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost  working 
faith  in  us.  The  Spirit  imparts  to  us  a  love  of  the 
truth,  and  produces  within  us  a  disposition  to  search 
the  ScrijDtures  with  a  teachable  heart.  He  gives  us  a 
relish  for  the  things  of  God,  and  kindles  in  us  a  desire 
after  the  knowledge  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 
He  inclines  us  to  wait  on  the  ordinances  which  are 
of  Divine  appointment,  helps  us  in  our  supplications, 
and  affords  us  glimpses  of  the  things  which  are  un- 
speakable and  full  of  glory. 

In  thus  receiving  Christ,  we  become  identified  with 
Him  in  His  perceptions  of  truth.  We  receive  His 
view  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit,  in  all  that  these 
are  to  us,  and  in  all  that  they  have  done  for  us. 
Hence,  Paul  prays  on  behalf  of  the  Ephesian  saints, 
"  that  the  God  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  may  give 
you  the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation  in  the  know- 
ledge of  Him,  the  eyes  of  your  understanding  being 
enlightened  that  ye  may  know  what  is  the  hope  of  His 
calling,  and  what  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  His 
inheritance  in  the  saints."  And  again,  in  another 
epistle,  he  prays  that  believers  might  be  "  filled  with 
the  knowledge  of  His  will,  in  all  wisdom  and  spiritual 
understanding,"  but  on  this  point,  it  is  needless  to 
multiply  quotations. 

When  the  believer  receives  Christ  in  his  spirit  and 


RECEPTION  OF  CHRIST.  295 

mind,  he  also  receives  Him  into  his  life.  They  live 
for  Him,  they  live  in  Him,  and  they  live  by  Him. 
The  source  and  motive  power  of  their  whole  life  is 
Christ,  "because  as  He  is,  so  are  we  in  the  world." 
They  love  what  He  loves,  and  hate  what  He  hates, 
and  pursue  what  He  pursues.  They  do  not  live  unto 
themselves,  but  unto  their  Saviour ;  and  the  law  of 
their  life  is  laid  down  in  these  words,  "For  whether 
we  live,  we  live  unto  the  Lord,  and  whether  we  die, 
we  die  unto  the  Lord :  whether  we  live,  therefore,  or 
die,  we  are  the  Lord's." 

Paul  tells  us  that  we  are  quickened  together  with 
Christ,  even  when  we  were  dead  in  sins,  hence  he  can 
say,  "I  live,  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me." 
And  in  another  place,  he  says,  "  AVhen  Christ,  who  is 
our  life,  shall  appear,  then  shall  ye  also  appear  with 
Him  in  glory."  And  yet  again,  "  For  we  which  live, 
are  always  delivered  unto  death,  for  Jesus'  sake," 

When  the  believer  receives  Jesus  in  his  spirit, 
mind,  and  life,  he  receives  Him  also  in  his  righteous- 
ness. Christ  in  Himself  has  always  stood  in  right 
relation  to  His  Father.  And  in  His  work,  in  His 
people,  and  on  their  behalf,  He  occupies  a  righted 
relation  to  the  law,  and  justice,  and  God,  and  thus 
the  believer  through  Him  receives  a  readjusted 
standing  before  God  and  man.  All  the  caj^acities  of 
his  being  are  now  open  to  the  rece^^tion  of  the  out- 
goings of  the  Divine,  and  to  the  inflowinos  of  the 
Christian  into  his  soul,  and  hence  all  the  powers  and 
functions  of  his  life  are  exerted  in  accordance  with 
the  conditions  and  obligations  of  his  well  being. 


296  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

The  foregoing  is  just  what  sinful  man  needs.  Man, 
in  a  sinful  state,  is  like  a  plant  out  of  the  ground, 
and,  therefore,  not  in  a  right  relation  to  the  soil  on 
which  its  life  necessarily  depends.  The  sinner  is  not 
in  a  state  of  union  and  communion  with  God,  and, 
therefore,  cannot  consecrate  the  functions  of  his  life  to 
the  glory  of  God,  in  the  promotion  of  his  own  well- 
being,  and  that  of  others.  In  his  reception  of  Christ, 
however,  he  is  brought  into  that  relation  to  God,  in 
which  the  capacities  of  his  soul  are  opened  up  to  the 
inflowing  of  the  Divine,  and  the  energies  of  his  spirit 
are  all  consecrated  to  the  service  of  God.  And  in 
this  way  his  sanctification  is  carried  forward,  by  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  working  within  him  the 
good- will  and  pleasure  of  God. 

In  receiving  Christ  and  that  righteousness  which 
He  wrought  for  man,  and  which  is  imputed  to  him 
by  faith  alone,  the  sinner  undergoes  a  thorough 
radical  change,  in  reference  to  God  and  His  holy  law. 
"Such,"  says  the  apostle  to  believers,  "were  some  of 
you,  but  ye  are  washed,  but  ye  are  sanctified,  but  ye 
are  justified  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God,"  and  thus  it  is  that 
"God  is  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto  Himself, 
not  imputing  their  trespasses  unto  them,"  but,  on  the 
contrary,  imputing  "  the  righteousness  of  God,  which 
is  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  unto  all  and  upon  all  them 
that  Ijelieve." 

God,  in  bringing  men  into  the  faith  of  the  Gospel 
of  His  Son,  is  bringing  them  into  readjusted  relations 
with  Himself,  and  with  the  conditions  of  their  own 


RECEPTION  OF  CHRIST.  297 

wellbeing,  hence  Christ  is  our  righteousness,  and  we 
are  rigliteous  in  Him. 

The  believer  is  identified  with  Christ,  regarded  by 
God  as  one  with  Him,  hence  the  apostle's  expressed 
wish  to  "be  found  in  Him,  not  having  mine  own 
righteousness  which  is  by  the  law,  but  that  which  is 
through  the  faith  of  Christ,  the  righteousness  which 
is  of  God  by  faith." 

Moreover,  in  receiving  Christ  in  his  mind,  spirit, 
life,  and  righteousness,  the  believer  receives  Him 
also  in  His  glory.  If  the  believer  stands  before  the 
boundless  riches  of  sovereign  grace  with  all  the 
avenues  of  his  being  open  to  its  inflow,  then  must  he 
receive  Christ  in  His  glory.  This  glory  arises  out  of 
the  beauty  of  righteousness  and  the  radiance  of 
character  which,  through  Christ,  the  believer  is  led  to 
assume ;  hence  our  blessed  Lord,  in  addressing  His 
Father  on  behalf  of  His  disciples,  says,  "  The  glory 
which  Thou  hast  given  Me  I  have  given  unto  them, ' 
and  Paul  says  that  "  when  Christ  who  is  our  life  shall 
appear,  then  shall  we  also  appear  with  Him  in  glory." 
And  He  shall  at  His  coming  change  our  vile  body, 
that  it  may  be  fashioned  like  unto  His  glorious 
body,  and  we  shall  be  changed ;  even  now  we  are 
changing  from  glory  to  glory.  As  the  light  falling 
upon  the  camera  transcribes  the  image  to  the  prepared 
plate,  so  does  the  light  of  the  glorious  gospel  of  the 
grace  of  God  shining  into  the  heart  of  the  believer 
transcribe  to  his  life  the  glorious  image  of  the  ever 
blessed  Jesus. 

And  when  the  believer  receives  the  Eedeemer  in 


298  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

the  manner  above  indicated,  he  also  receives  Him  in 
His  joy.  The  consciousness  of  union  and  communion 
with  Christ,  in  the  various  elements  of  spiritual  life 
indicated,  must  awaken  within  the  believer  "the  joy 
of  the  Lord,"  having  Christ  in  him  the  hope  of  glory, 
he  must  have  Him  also  at  the  same  time  the  well- 
spring  of  his  joy.  From  this  point  of  view  the 
Saviour  stood  and  cried  on  the  great  day  of  one  of 
the  Jewish  festivals,  "If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come 
unto  Me  and  drink.  He  that  believeth  on  Me,  as  the 
scriptures  hath  said,  out  of  his  belly  shall  flow  rivers 
of  living  water." 

As  the  mighty  oak,  when  shaken  by  the  violence  of 
the  tempest,  darts  its  roots  more  firmly  into  the  soil, 
so  the  disciples,  when  their  creature  sources  of  joy  and 
comfort  fiiil  them,  when  persecuted  by  men  and  devils, 
fall  back  on  Christ  Himself,  and  evermore  realise  the 
opening  up  of  the  well-springs  of  the  Divine  in  the 
inner  depths  of  their  spirits,  hence  Christ  said  to  them, 
"  These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you,  that  in  me  ye 
might  have  peace ;  in  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribula- 
tion, but  be  of  good  cheer,  I  have  overcome  the  world;" 
and  on  behalf  of  His  disciples  He  thus  prays  to  His 
Father :  "  And  now  I  come  unto  Thee,  and  these 
things  I  speak  in  the  world,  that  they  might  have  my 
joy  fulfilled  in  themselves." 

Such,  then,  is  the  reception  of  God's  Son  by  the 
believer,  and  what,  we  may  ask,  is  so  conducive  and 
even  necessary  to  human  wellbeing  as  is  this  recep- 
tion ?  Without  Christ,  fallen  man  is  a  longing,  per- 
plexed,   and   suffering  creature,    struggling  after  an 


RECEPTION  OF  CHRIST.  299 

escape  from  liis  woes,  but  by  liis  very  efforts  to  better 
his  state  only  plunging  liimself  more  deeply  into 
miser}^  Christ  is,  indeed,  the  greatest  gift  God  can 
bestow  upon  man,  no  other  acquisition  can  meet  his 
necessities  or  alleviate  his  distress  in  any  permanent 
shape.  What  infatuation,  then,  in  the  sinner  to  refuse, 
or  delay,  his  reception  of  Christ !  And  what  con- 
descension on  the  part  of  the  Father  to  give  up  the 
Son  of  His  love,  and  of  the  Son  to  come  into  the 
Tvorld  to  take  up  His  abode  in  man,  and  also  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  apply  Christ  to  the  sinner  I 

This  reception,  however,  of  Christ  is  by  no  means 
perfect  and  complete  in  its  first  beginnings  on  earth. 
The  work  of  sanctification  is  progressive.  The  recep- 
tion of  Christ  begins  with  the  quickening  of  the  spirit 
of  man  with  the  Divine  life,  and  is  completed  in  the 
full  manifestation  of  the  Godhead  in  the  glory  of  the 
perfect  state  above,  when,  seeing  Him  as  He  is,  "  we 
shall  be  like  Him."  Blessed  consummation  of  Divine 
grace  ! 


(  300  ) 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

ti/je:  indwelling  of  the  divine  in  the  human. 

By  indwelling  we  mean  residing  in  and  operating 
through  means  of  another.  Of  the  possibility  of  this, 
or  rather  of  the  fact  itself,  we  have  clear  proof.  The 
soul  dwells  in  the  body  and  acts  through  it,  and  this 
indwellinof  of  the  soul  makes  all  the  difference  between 
a  dead  body  and  a  living  man.  Knowledge  dwells 
in,  and  operates  through  means  of,  the  faculties  of 
the  mind.  This  is  realised  by  all  intelligent  persons 
in  the  experience  of  daily  life.  The  difference  between 
the  ignorant  and  the  learned,  is  the  indwelling  of 
knowledge  in  the  understanding  of  the  one,  and  the 
absence  of  it  from  the  mind  of  the  other.  Disposition, 
asain,  resides  in  the  heart  of  man,  and  reveals  itself 
in  all  the  acts  of  his  daily  life  ;  this  is  recognised  by 
all  men  everj'where,  and  they  form  their  judgments 
and  frame  their  intercourse  accordingly. 

Now,  as  really  as  the  soul  dwells  in  the  body  and 
acts  through  it,  as  really  as  knowledge  dwells  in  the 
mind  and  reveals  itself  by  means  of  the  mental  facul- 
ties, and  as  surely  as  disposition  dwells  in  the  heart 
and  manifests  itself  in  the  conduct,  so  surely  do 
Fatlier,  Sou,  and  Holy  Spirit  dwell  in  the  believer's 


INDWELLING  OF  THE  DIVINE.  301 

spirit,  and  act  througli  liis  life.  Hence,  says  tlie 
apostle  in  pregnant  words  wliich  can  bear  frequent 
repetition,  "  I  live,  yet  not  I,  but  Clirist  liveth  in  me," 
and  Jesus  Himself  referring  to  the  same  thing  says, 
"  I  in  them,  and  Thou  in  Me."  And  God.  even,  long 
before,  had  said  of  humanity  in  far  more  emphatic 
terms  than  He  ever  said  of  Zion,  *'  This  is  My  rest  for 
ever :  here  will  I  dwell,  for  I  have  desired  it." 

Creation  indicates  the  necessity  of  the  indwelling 
of  the  Divine  in  the  human,  and  Incarnation  proves 
the  fact  itself.  Look  at  Jehovah,  if  we  may  dare  so 
to  speak,  toiling  up  the  heights  of  creation,  througli 
the  dreary  waste  of  ages  from  the  first  formation  of 
chaos  to  the  completion  of  His  great  and  beneficent 
work,  and  what  do  we  see  but  God  preparing  an 
abode  for  Himself  in  the  spirit  of  His  child,  man. 
The  crowning  act  of  creation  was,  when  God  formed 
man  out  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and,  into  His  own 
image  thus  formed,  breathed  the  breath  of  life,  His 
own  living  Spirit.  Creation  and  Redemption  are  pre- 
paratory to  the  indwelling  of  the  Divine  in  the  human, 
and  the  completion  of  salvation  will  exhibit  God 
taking  up  His  full  and  everlasting  abode  in,  and  along 
with.  His  redeemed  children. 

The  indwelling  of  the  Divine  in  the  human  might 
be  arirued  in  the  followino;  manner  :  All  finite  exist- 
ence  is  dependent  on  God,  but  all  finite  existence 
does  not  realise  alike  its  dependence.  The  nature 
which  is  nearest  in  the  scale  of  being  to  God  is  that 
which,  in  one  sense,  is  most  dependent  upon  Him, 
which   certainly  most   of  all  is  capable  of  realising 


302  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

its  dependence,  and  so  must  be  tlie  first  and  closest 
link  of  connection  between  God  and  creation.  Now, 
as  far  as  known  to  ns,  man  is  of  all  finite  existence 
the  nearest  to  God,  being  created  in  His  own  image, 
and,  therefore,  is  the  best  suited  to  His  indwelling. 

If,  then,  man's  nature  be  nearest  to  God's  nature 
in  the  scale  of  being,  and  through  which  He  operates 
on  creation ;  the  fall  of  man  may  not  only  have 
deeply  afi'ected  Himself,  but  the  whole  creation  on 
which  God  thus  operates ;  and  that  such  seems  really 
to  be  the  case,  is  borne  out  by  these  words,  viz., 
"The  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth together 
in  pain." 

But  whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  foregoing 
view  of  the  case,  the  indwelling  of  God  is  not  left 
to  the  discovery  of  reason,  for  nothing  is  more  forcibly 
insisted  on  in  Scripture,  "Ye  are  the  temple  of  the 
living  God ;  as  God  hath  said,  I  will  dwell  in  them." 
"  Whoever  will  confess  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  God 
dwelleth  in  him."  "  If  a  man  love  me,"  says  Jesus, 
"  he  A\ill  keep  My  words,  and  My  Father  will  love  him, 
and  we  will  come  unto  him  and  make  our  abode  with 
liim."  Scripture  to  this  eff'ect  might  be  indefinitely 
multiplied,  but  it  were  needless  to  advance  anything 
further,  in  order  to  show  what  the  teaching  of  God's 
Word  is,  in  regard  to  the  doctrine  in  hand. 

It  is  very  true  that  we  knoAv  nothing  of  the  liow 
of  this  indwelling,  it  is  the  profound  mystery  of 
existence.  But  the  how  of  all  indwelling  is  to  us 
unknown  and  mysterious.  What,  e.^.,  do  we  know 
of  lioiD  the  soul  dwells  in  the  body  ?  yet  the  fact  of 


INDWELLING  OF  THE  DIVLNE.  303 

its  indwelling  is  clear  and  patent  to  all.      Mj'stery  is 
connected  with  every  sphere  of  human  knowledge,  and 
many    of  these    mysteries    are    beyond    the    ken    of 
mortals,  and  this  ought  to  be  matter  of  gratitude  to 
us,  for  it  shows  us  that  no   limit   can  be  set  to  our 
progress    in    knowledge.      But    because   a    theme   of 
contemplation   may   be   closely   allied  with    the    un- 
known, or  a  high  phase  of  truth  with  the  mysterious, 
it  is  none  the  less  real  or  important  on  that  account, 
but  only  the  more  so.     And  it  is  our  imperative  duty 
not   to   let  it  alone,  but  to  apjDroach   the   study  of 
it  with  the  greater  caution  and  meekness.      Mystery 
is  not  contradiction  nor  absurdity,  but  the  deep  rela- 
tion of  things  undisclosed,  unperceived  links  of  being, 
or  uncomprehended  operations  of  existence.     Mystery 
is  profound  truth,  and  w^hat  is  mysterious  to  us  now, 
may  be  known  to  an  angel,  and  what  is  mysterious 
to  an  angel,  is  known  to  God.     This  indwelling  of 
which  we  speak,  is,  indeed,  mysterious  to  the  intellect 
of  man,  but  not  unknown  to  the  heart,  nor  unrealised 
in  the  life  of  the  believer.     And  as  we  advance  in  the 
life  of  faith,  into  the  visions  of  the  unseen,  we  shall 
know  more  and  more  of  the  glorious  indwelling,  for 
the  realisation  of  which  creation  itself  was  called  into 
being,  the  Son  of  God  Incarnated,  and  for  which  the 
Spirit  of  God  has  energised  from  age  to  age. 

And  what  is  there  in  the  constitution  of  the 
universe,  in  as  far  as  our  knowledge  of  it  extends, 
more  natural  than  is  the  indwelling:  of  the  soul  in  the 
body,  an  indwelling  which  constitutes  the  physical 
life  of  man.     This  indwellinsi  is  in  accordance  with 


304  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

the  original  constitution  of  tilings,  for  it  is  not  natural 
for  man  to  die.  Death  is  an  abnormal  state  from 
which  we  naturally  shrink  back,  it  is  only  a  possibility 
of  our  bcino:,  and  is  the  result  of  violence  done  to  the 
human  constitution.  It  is  the  separating  of  the 
component  parts  of  his  existence  and  the  result  of  sin. 
By  sin  death  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  along 
with  it,  and  so  "  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that 
all  have  sinned." 

And  why  has  the  body  received  its  present  consti- 
tution, its  skin,  flesh,  muscles,  &c.  ?  Jast  that  it 
mio-ht  be  the  fit  abode  of  the  soul ;  it  has  been  created 

o 

purposely  for  the  indwelling  of  the  soul ;  therefore, 
when  the  soul  is  removed  from  the  body,  the  body 
returns  to  the  dust  again.  It  is  this  indwelling  soul 
that  imparts  constitutional  form,  graceful  and  free 
action  to  the  body  ;  it  does  not  coerce  the  limbs  of  the 
body,  nor  enskave  it  in  any  of  its  functions,  but  only 
affords  to  it  and  secures  for  it  free  unfettered  consti- 
tutional action.  A  body  from  which  the  soul  has 
departed  may  be  made  to  move  by  the  application  of 
an  electric  battery,  but  such  motion  is  not  free  con- 
stitutional action. 

AVhat,  again,  is  more  natural  in  the  rational  order 
of  being,  than  that  knowledge  should  dwell  in  the 
human  mind,  act  in  the  understanding,  and  reign  in 
the  intellect  ;  for  the  human  mind  has  been  created 
with  the  fiiculties  of  perception,  comparison,  inference, 
&c.,  in  order  to  contemplate,  receive,  and  enjoy  truth, 
and  truth  has  been  revealed  in  its  manifold  forms, 
and  through  its  numerous  channels,  in  order  that  the 


INDWELLING  OF  THE  DIVINE.  305 

mind  of  man  should  be  increased  in  knowledge,  culti- 
vated and  enlarged.  Ignorance  and  error  enslave  the 
understanding  and  hold  the  mind  in  bondage ;  but 
truth  known  enlightens  the  mind,  energises  the 
faculties,  and  sets  free  the  intellect. 

But,  further,  nothing  is  more  natural  in  the  sphere 
of  the  spiritual  than  that  meek,  gentle,  and  gene- 
rous dispositions  should  hold  sway  in  the  spirit 
of  man.  The  spirit  of  man  has  been  called  into 
existence  with  capacity,  and  endowed  with  receptivity 
for  the  indwelling  of  meek,  gentle,  and  generous  dis- 
positions ;  and  to  be  moved  by  such  dispositions  into 
vigorous  action  constitutes  the  life  and  liberty  of  the 
spirit  of  man,  whereas,  selfish,  wrathful,  and  revengeful 
dispositions,  enslave  the  soul  and  hold  the  spirit  of 
man  in  direful  bondage. 

Advancing  now  beyond  these  things,  there  is  no- 
thing within  the  range  of  finite  existence  more  natural 
to  humanity  than  that  God  should  dwell  in  the  spirit, 
reign  in  the  life,  and  act  in  the  soul  of  man,  and  be 
ever  present  in  pure  and  blissful  fellowship  with  the 
believer.  God  cannot,  indeed,  dwell  in  sinful  humanity; 
this  would  be  the  most  unnatural  of  all  things.  God 
can  draw  near  to  sinful  humanity  only  in  the  sense  of 
awakening  and  intensifying  the  consciousness  of  guilt, 
showing  the  man  his  sin,  and  thus  shutting  him  up  in 
the  prison-house  of  remorse  and  despair.  After  this 
fashion  God  dealt  with  the  world  when  in  the  exercise 
of  His  longsuffering  kindness  He  withdrew  Himself 
into  thick  darkness  on  the  first  entrance  of  sin  into 

the  world.    But  God  can  dwell  in  sanctified  humanity; 

u 


3o6  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

indeed,  this  is  His  cliief  deliglit,  His  supreme  joy. 
Eedeemed  humanity  is  the  cliosen  temple  of  the  Lord 
God,  "This  people  have  I  formed  for  Myself." 

How  preposterous,  then,  is  it  to  talk  of  religion  or 
Christian  life  degrading  humanity,  enslaving  the  soul, 
and  tormenting  the  spirit  of  man.  Life,  health,  and 
energy  do  not  enslave  the  body ;  truth,  knowledge, 
and  understanding  do  not  enslave  the  mind ;  meek, 
gentle,  and  unselfish  dispositions  do  not  enslave  the 
spirit.  Why,  then,  should  the  indwelling  of  God, 
which  is  as  natural  as  any  of  these,  enslave  the  soul  ? 
Rather,  it  is  the  indwelling  of  God  alone  that  eman- 
cipates the  spirit  and  secures  true  liberty.  It  is  the 
indwelling  of  God  that  imparts  energy  to  the  faculties, 
liofht  to  the  understandinf!^,  and  direction  to  the  will : 
therefore,  it  is  written,  ''  Where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
is  there  is  liberty,"  and  "  If  the  Son  shall  make  you 
free,  ye  shall  be  free  indeed."  This  is  at  once  true, 
and  richly  philosophical. 

Eeader,  this  overwhelming  theme  is  as  true  as  it  is 
grand  and  mysterious  1  Yes,  blessed  be  God,  it  is  the 
niiost  natural  of  all  things  that  the  Lord  Almighty 
should  dwell  in  sanctified  humanity ;  and  this  is  the 
pledge  and  the  actuality  of  all  true  and  abiding 
liberty  to  man.  And  how  great  is  the  beauty  which 
this  indwelling  imparts  to  the  soul  of  man !  There  is 
no  natural  thinjy  so  beautiful  as  the  human  bodv  in- 
dwelt  by  a  pure  spirit.  AVhen  God  completed  His 
work  of  creation,  in  the  formation  of  man,  He  pro- 
nounced it  "very  good." 

In  the  persons  of  our  first  parents,  during  their 


INDWELLING  OF  THE  DIVINE.  307 

innocence,  tlie  human  body  presented  to  the  discern- 
ing eye  the  loveliest  object  on  which  it  could  gaze. 
And  when  the  body  of  man  shall  be  raised,  like  unto 
the  '•'  glorious  body  "  of  the  Son  of  God,  then  shall  be 
seen  again  the  highest  perfection  of  material  beauty. 
And  all  this  loveliness  shall  be  the  result  of  a  pure 
spirit,  possessing  a  perfect  body,  the  perfected  work 
of  the  indwelling  of  the  Divine. 

There  is  nothing  within  the  sphere  of  intellectual 
existence  so  beautiful  as  the  mind  of  man  indwelt  by 
truth  ;  in  comparison  with  this,  material  beauty,  how- 
ever great,  is  poor  indeed ;  in  f^ict,  the  loveliest  displays 
of  material  beauty  are  those  which  indicate  intellec- 
tual greatness.  The  mind  of  man,  irradiated  with  the 
light  of  truth,  shines  in  the  loveliness  of  the  Divine. 
The  outflowings  from  the  human  lips  of  sanctified 
intellect,  whether  poetic,  scientific,  philosophical,  or 
theological,  is  a  pure  and  elevating  enjoyment 
indeed. 

The  human  soul  also  is  very  beautiful  when  pos- 
sessed of  meek,  godlike  dispositions.  Such  a  soul  is, 
above  all  others,  the  resting  place,  the  chosen  habita- 
tion of  God  ;  in  it  Jehovah  delights  to  manifest  the 
glory  of  His  infinite  perfection. 

But  more  beautiful  than  all  is  the  human  spirit 
filled  with  all  the  fulness  of  God.  Within  the  bound- 
less range  of  the  All-seeing  eye,  there  is  nothing  so 
gratifying  to  the  heart  of  God  as  is  the  soul  in  which 
He  himself  thus  dwells,  nothing  on  which  His  eye 
can  rest  with  such  complacency  and  delight. 

The  necessity  of  the  indwelling  of  God  in  man,  to 


3o8  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

liis  glory  and  bliss,  is  seen  in  tlie  majesty  displayed 
in  the  great  facts  of  the  Incarnation  and  Ascension  to 
glory  of  the  Son  of  God.  And  when  the  pure  soul 
shall  dwell  in  the  glorified  body,  when  the  cloudless 
light  of  truth  shall  fill  the  vast  capacities  of  the 
human  mind,  when  divine,  and  only  divine,  emotions 
shall  fully  possess  the  heart,  when  God — Father,  Son, 
and  Spirit — shall  dwell  in  and  fill  the  redeemed  with 
all  the  fulness  of  God,  oh  what  shall  be  the  unspeak- 
able joy  which  shall  then  ravish  the  heart  and  delight 
the  human  spirit  ?  "What  shall  then  be  the  felicity  of 
the  perfect  eternal  indwelling  of  God  ?  The  joys  of  a 
first  love  are  sweet ;  sweet  the  soul's  first  embrace  of 
truth,  and  the  first  awaking  consciousness  of  peace 
with  God.  This,  however,  is  but  a  faint  tasting — the 
infant  spirit  obtaining  but  a  glimpse  of  its  future 
manhood,  the  heir  arriving  at  a  feeble  conception  of 
his  after  inheritance. 

Of  the  full  and  perfect  bliss  of  the  Divine  indwell- 
ing, we  can  here  speak  only  in  the  broken  accents  of 
infancy.  "  We  see  through  a  glass  darkly,"  but  then 
shall  we  "  see  face  to  face,"  and  "  know  even  as  we  are 
known,"  and  the  full  tide  of  light,  with  the  full  sw^ell 
of  bliss,  shall  flow  into  and  fill  the  soul.  The  eternal 
realisation  of  fellowship  with  God,  in  the  knowledge 
and  enjoyment  of  the  godlike  designs  of  His  infinite 
love,  shall  all  thrill  the  spirit  with  purest  felicity. 
Glorious  consummation  of  immortal  life  and  fellow- 
ship Divine,  how  great  shall  be  thy  bliss  and  joy  ! 


(  309  ) 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

UNION   OF   THE   HUMAN    WITH  THE   DIVINE. 

As  tlie  indwelling  of  tlie  Divine  in  the  human  arises 
out  of  the  reception  of  the  Divine  by  the  human, 
so  the  union  of  the  human  with  the  Divine  arises 
out  of  the  indwelling  of  the  Divine  in  the  human. 
In  the  contemplation  of  this  all-important  and  glori- 
ous theme,  extremes,  prevalent  even  at  the  present 
day,  are  to  be  guarded  against.  These  extremes  are 
the  dreams  of  mysticism  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
speculations  of  rationalism  on  the  other. 

This  union  of  which  we  speak  is  not  one  of  a  pan- 
theistic character,  i.e.,  a  union  of  identification  of  the 
several  departments  of  nature,  in  which  God  is  all, 
and  all  is  God  ;  a  union  in  which  there  is  no  distinc- 
tion of  essence  and  personality  between  the  Creator 
and  the  creature.  The  union  for  which  we  contend 
in  nowise  interferes  with  the  personalities,  or  con- 
founds the  individualities,  of  the  natures  united.  It 
is  not  a  union  like  that  of  a  spark  in  a  flame,  or  of  a 
drop  in  the  ocean,  w^here  the  one  is  lost  in  the  other ; 
but  such  a  union  as  preserves  the  Divinity  of  the  one 
nature  unimpaired,  and  the  free  agency  of  the  other 
unfettered. 


310  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

Nor,  on  tlie  otlier  liand,  is  this  a  mere  rational 
union,  i.e.,  a  union  of  Divine  and  human  natures 
only  in  views  of  mind,  feeling,  and  principles  of 
action.  If  this  union  of  idea  and  will  were  the  only 
one  possible  between  the  human  and  Divine,  then, 
however  possible  in  the  nature  of  being  itself,  it  could 
hardly  ever  be  realised  in  the  actuality  of  life,  inas- 
much as  fallen  man  is  not  only  devoid  of  the  one 
essential  principle  of  such  a  union  with  God,  but  is 
also  antagonistic  in  spirit  to  a  union  of  will  with  God. 
If,  therefore,  a  union  of  the  human  and  Divine  wills 
is  possible  only  through  a  union  of  the  human  and 
Divine  minds,  how  is  a  merely  rational  union  to  be 
attained?  Fallen  man,  as  we  have  seen,  hates  the 
lio-ht,  and  nothing  can  lead  him  to  welcome  the  lif(ht. 
No  mere  revelation  of  the  truth  of  God  will  ever 
prevail  upon  the  man  who  dislikes  it  to  receive  it, 
and  rejoice  in  the  light  of  it.  A  union,  therefore, 
meditated  only  through  the  truth  itself,  from  the 
nature  of  things,  cannot  be  realised  between  God  and 
man. 

This  rationalistic  view  of  the  union  between  God 
and  man,  however  scientific  the  dress  in  which  it  is 
set  forth,  and  with  whatsoever  philosophic  authority 
it  is  backed  up,  is  yet  most  unscientific  and  unphi- 
losophic ;  for  a  union  with  God,  through  the  medium  of 
truth,  is  possible  to  the  sinner  only  through  means 
of  a  prior  union  of  the  spirit  of  man  with  the  Spirit 
of  God. 

Contemplate  the  world  lying  under  the  wicked  one, 
at  enmity  with  God,  in  opposition  to  the  light  of  His 


UNION  OF  THE  HUMAN  WITH  DIVINE.     311 

saving  holiness,  tliough  diffused  in  the  purest  radiance 
of  the  Divine  efifulgence,  i.e.,  in  Him  Avho  is  the 
"brightness  of  the  Father's  Glory."  This  radiant 
effulgence  poured  on  the  diseased  organ  of  the  sinner's 
vision,  only  causes  him  to  nerve  his  every  effort,  to 
exclude  it  the  more  effectually  from  his  heart. 
The  softening,  melting  influence  of  Heaven's  mercy, 
falling  upon  the  corrupt  heart  of  man,  is  thus  seen 
only  to  arouse  it  to  more  confirmed  rejection  of  God. 

Ere,  then,  there  can  be  a  union  between  the  sinner 
and  God  through  means  of  saving  truth,  there  must 
be  an  experience  on  man's  part  of  quickening  grace. 
The  Spirit  of  God  must  touch  the  heart  of  the  sinner 
with  His  own  immediate  power,  firing  it  with  love  of 
the  Divine  ;  otherwise,  the  truth  cannot  be  received 
in  the  love  of  it.  It  is  only  when  the  Spirit  works 
faith  in  a  man,  warming  his  heart  with  the  love  of 
the  true  as  He  unveils  to  him  the  beauties  of  sovereiofn 
grace,  that  he  will  yield  himself  up  to  God  in  the 
reception  of  "  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  and,  receiv- 
ing the  truth  in  the  love  of  it,  he  will  enjoy  fellow- 
ship with  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
enter  into  the  realisation  of  union  with  the  Father, 
through  the  Son,  and  by  the  Spirit. 

This  union,  as  we  have  indicated,  is  not  a  blending 
or  confounding  of  the  united  personalities  or  lives  ; 
nor  is  it  an  absorbing  of  the  one  by  the  other,  so  that 
the  one  is  in  any  way  injured  or  lost  in  regard  to 
anything  that  appertains  to  it.  There  is  nothing,  e.g.., 
of  blending  or  confounding  together  of  mind  and 
truth  in  man's  grasp  of  the  truth.     After  a  man  has 


312  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

laid  hold  of  the  truth,  his  mind  is  as  perfect  as  when 
he  was  ignorant  of  it ;  in  point  of  fact,  it  is  more 
perfect ;  nor  is  the  truth  grasped  in  any  way  injured 
or  changed  in  its  nature  through  being  understood. 
The  body  in  its  union  with  the  soul  is  in  no  way 
injured,  blended  and  confounded  with  the  soul. 
The  body  is  as  material  in  its  union  with  the  soul 
in  life,  as  were  the  particles  of  which  it  is  composed 
before  the  body  was  made.  And  the  soul  is,  in  its 
essence  and  all  its  essentials,  the  same  as  it  shall  be 
when  it  parts  company  with  its  ^Dresent  body.  The 
humanity  also  of  the  Incarnate  One  is  as  real  and 
perfect  in  its  condition  of  inseparable  union  with  the 
Divine,  as  it  is  in  any  of  the  human  race.  And,  in 
like  manner,  the  Divinity  of  the  Man  Christ  Jesus 
is  as  perfect  now,  as  it  was  when  in  the  beginning 
the  "  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God." 
Similarly  the  Godhead  in  the  indwelling  of  the 
Divine  in  the  spirit  of  man,  is  as  essentially  Divine 
as  was  Jehovah,  ere  the  silence  of  eternity  was  broken 
by  the  obtrusion  of  created  being.  And  the  spirit  of 
man  is  as  really  human  while  enjoying  the  life  of 
union  and  communion  with  God,  as  when  it  was 
"without  God  in  the  world." 

This  union  of  nature  in  no  way  degrades  the  higher, 
but  it  unspeakably  exalts  the  inferior.  Truth,  e.g.^  is 
in  no  way  degraded  by  its  indwelling  and  influence 
in  the  understandinf]^  of  man,  but  throuMi  it  the 
mind  of  man  is  greatly  raised,  especially  by  the 
apprehension  of  "  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus."  The 
soul  of  man  is  in  no  way  degraded  by  its  dwelling  in 


UNION  OF  THE  HUMAN  WITH  DIVINE.     313 

tLe  body,  but  the  body  is  bigbly  dignified  by  means 
of  the  indwelling  of  the  soul.  And,  blessed  be  God, 
Jehovah  is  not  dishonoured  by  His  dwelling  in  the 
Faithful,  for  it  is  in  His  manifestations  in  connection 
with  this  indwelling  that  He  has  displayed  in  purest 
radiance  the  glory  of  His  infinite  perfections  ;  but 
human  nature  in  the  redeemed  is  mightily  exalted  on 
account  of  this  indwelling  of  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit ; 
they  are  able  in  consequence  to  prove  to  the  world 
that  they  are  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Almighty. 

This  union  of  the  human  and  Divine  is  spiritual 
and  enduring.  The  Spirit  of  God  unites  Himself 
with  the  spirit  of  man,  and  quickens  it  by  manifest- 
ing Christ  to  the  heart,  and  working  faith  in  the 
obedient.  In  this  way  the  believer  is  "renewed 
in  the  spirit  of  his  mind,"  that  he  "may  put  on  the 
new  man  which,  after  God,  is  created  in  righteousness 
and  true  holiness,"  the  "  deep  things  of  God "  are 
revealed  to  him,  and  the  work  of  sanctification  is 
carried  forward  in  his  nature. 

Hence  the  union  of  the  human  and  Divine  is  a 
vital  one  ;  in  fact,  it  is  impossible  for  the  Spirit  of 
God,  the  Author  of  life,  to  come  into  contact  thus 
with  the  soul  and  spirit  of  man,  and  not  produce  life, 
and  quicken  all  the  powers  and  capacities  of  human 
nature.  This  spirit  has  been  sent  by  the  Son  to 
regenerate  souls  "dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,"  and 
coming  into  the  spirit  of  man.  He  produces  and 
sustains  the  life  of  God  in  it.  This  is  the  point  of 
view  occupied  by  the  apostle  when  he  says,  "If 
Christ  be  iu  you,  the  body  is  dead  because  of  sin,  but 


314  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

the  spirit  is  life  because  of  righteousness,"  and  in 
another  place,  "  If  the  Spirit  of  Him  that  raised  up 
Jesus  from  the  dead  dwell  in  you,  He  that  raised  up 
Christ  from  the  dead  shall  also  quicken  your  mortal 
Lodies  by  His  Spirit  that  dwelleth  in  you." 

This  union,  moreover,  is  a  growing  one,  ever  deve- 
loping itself  in  the  heart  and  life  of  the  believer.  It 
is  not  perfected  in  its  first  beginnings ;  there  is  such 
an  infinite  capacity  in  the  spirit  of  man,  and  there  is 
such  an  infinitude  of  grace  in  God,  that  the  soul  can- 
not be  ''  filled  with  all  the  fulness  of  God  "  in  its  first 
receptions  of  "the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus." 
There  are  too  many  obstacles  in  man,  standing  in  the 
way  of  his  reception  of  the  Divine,  to  be  overcome 
even  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  His  first  approaches  to  the 
soul.  The  slaying  of  the  antagonism  of  the  self- 
righteous  sj^irit  in  man,  the  quickening  of  his  heart 
with  the  life  of  God,  is  not  all  that  is  needed  in  order 
to  the  salvation  of  man.  The  ignorance,  error,  and 
prejudice  of  the  believer  have  to  give  way  before  "  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  in  the  process  of  sanctification ; 
and  the  remains  of  the  corruptions  of  self-love  have 
to  give  way  before  the  "  spirit  of  a  sound  understand- 
ing "  in  perfecting  the  life  and  godliness  which  are  in 
Christ  Jesus;  and  thus  the  union  is  ever  advancing 
and  consolidating  in  the  continual  assimilation  of  the 
believer  to  the  Spirit  of  God.  The  spirit  of  man  is 
ever  enlarging  in  its  capacity  through  its  reception  of 
the  Divine,  and  God  is  ever  unfolding  fresh  manifesta- 
tions of  Himself  to  the  believer's  soul.  • 

Finally,  this  union  is  an  indestructible  one.     All 


UNION  OF  THE  HUMAN  WITH  DIVINE.     315 

other  imions  existing  on  eartli  are  dissolved  sooner  or 
later ;  however  closely  we  may  cement  our  earthly 
unions,  however  eagerly  we  may  desire  to  jDcrpetuate 
them,  they  must  break  up  and  perish  one  and  all. 
The  heir  of  many  lands  must  soon  bid  them  a  lasting- 
adieu  ;  the  possessor  of  numerous  titles,  vast  wealth, 
and  earthly  glory,  must  ere  long  be  torn  from  them 
all.  Crowns  must  fall  from  the  most  disfnified  head, 
and  sceptres  from  the  most  tenacious  grasp  \  but  this 
union  shall  never  be  impaired,  it  is  in  its  very  nature 
imperishable,  augmenting,  and  consolidating.  It  shall 
survive  when  all  things  else  decay.  It  shall  spring 
forth  in  full  and  deathless  bloom  when  all  other 
buds  of  promise  shall  have  withered  and  fallen  to  tlie 
ground. 

Such,  then,  is  this  union  of  God  with  man,  the 
most  glorious  and  blessed  that  can  be  entertained 
even  in  the  loftiest  imaginings  of  man.  Yet  in  the 
pursuit  of  earthly  gain  and  human  acquisitions,  how 
greatly  is  it  overlooked  and  neglected !  Surely  folly 
is  ingrained  in  the  heart  of  the  man  who  strains  every 
nerve  to  gain  what  this  world  can  afford,  and  yet 
never  spends  a  single  earnest  thought  on  the  tran- 
scendantly-giorious  prospects  which  this  union  opens 
up  before  him.  But  happy,  thrice  happy,  are  those 
who  have  already  entered  upon  it ;  they  alone  know 
what  true  life  is  here  below,  life  which  they  shall 
enjoy  in  ever-increasing  sweetness  while  the  ceaseless 
ages  of  eternity  revolve. 


(3i6) 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  UNION  AND  UNITY  OF  BELIEVERS  WITH  ONE 
ANOTHER,  IN  THEIR  UNION  AND  UNITY  WITH 
CHRIST. 

This  union  consists  of  a  union  of  co-ordinate  lives  witli 
one  another,  in  tlieir  subordination  to  a  higher  life. 
It  is  the  union  of  believers  with  one  another  in  tlieir 
union  with  Christ.  This  matter  may  be  better  under- 
stood if  we  look  at  it  in  its  twofold  aspect,  viz.,  the 
union  of  believers  with  Christ,  and  the  union  of 
believers  with  one  another,  as  arising  out  of  their 
union  with  Christ. 

The  union  of  believers  is  effected  through  means  of 
the  union  of  humanity  with  Divinity,  in  the  union  of 
the  son  of  man  with  the  Son  of  God,  in  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ.  This  union  of  the  two  natures  exists  in 
its  hiMiest  form  in  the  Incarnate  One,  and  as  God 
and  man  are  united  in  one  person  in  Him,  so  God 
and  man  are  united  in  one  life  in  the  believer,  and 
just  as  in  the  hypostatical  union  there  is  no  blending 
of  natures,  so  in  the  union  with  Christ,  of  which  all 
•  believers  are  partakers,  there  is  no  confounding  of  the 
lives. 

This  union  of  believers  with  one  another  is  close 


UNION  AND  UNITY  OF  BELIE  VERS.         3 1 7 

and  endearing,  and  would  be  found  by  tbem  in  tlieir 
experience  to  be  so,  if  they  would  only  realise  its  true 
nature  and  godlike  privileges. 

As  children  of  God,  believers  have  no  union  or 
communion  with  one  another  save  in  and  through 
Christ  their  head.  The  emblem  of  this  union  is 
beautifully  set  before  us  by  Christ  Himself  in  His 
simile  of  the  vine  with  its  branches.  The  branches 
of  the  vine  have  no  union  with  one  another  Imt 
through  their  union  with  the  stem.  In  their  union 
with  the  stem,  however,  they  form  one  vine,  and  the 
same  sap  Avith  its  life-giving  energy  which  rises  from 
the  root  circulates  in  them  all. 

The  limbs  of  the  human  body  have  no  vital  union 
and  communion  with  one  another  save  through  their 
imion  with  the  one  body ;  but  in  virtue  of  this  union 
the  same  blood  circulates  in  them  all,  and  the  same 
life  energises  them  all,  and,  as  a  consequence,  if  one 
member  suffers,  the  others  suffer  along  with  it,  but  if 
on  the  contrary  one  member  rejoices,  the  others  rejoice 
with  it.  And  thus  is  it  with  believers ;  they  have 
union  and  communion  with  one  another  throucrh  their 

O 

union  with  Christ.  Having  received  Him  they  be- 
come with  Him  one  in  spirit,  mind,  and  life.  And 
the  one  grace  of  Christ  thus  flows  into  them  indi- 
vidually, and  constitutes  them  one  with  Himself, 
and  unites  them  all  into  one  body  of  which  He  is 
the  Head. 

If  a  dead  branch  be  allowed  to  remain  on  the  stem 
of  the  vine,  it  has  no  vital  union  with  it  nor  with  the 
other  branches.     Or  if  a  paralysed  limb  remains  on 


3i8  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

the  body,  it  Las  no  fellowsliip  with  the  other  limbs  in 
the  health,  vigour,  and  activity  of  the  body.  Similarly, 
if  another  spirit  than  the  Spirit  of  Christ  dwells  in  any 
professed  member  of  Christ,  such  an  one  can  have  no 
union  Avith  Him,  and  must  be  separated  from  Christ 
and  His  brethren  by  the  whole  difference  of  mind, 
spirit,  and  aim  which  animate  him,  from  the  mind, 
spirit,  and  aim  wdiich  animate  believers.  Is  it,  then, 
a  matter  of  wonder  that  the  Church  of  Christ  has 
been  so  inconsistent,  inefficient,  and  even  dead,  when 
we  consider  how  much  the  spirit  of  self  has  divided 
the  visible  organisation  and  enfeebled  its  members  ? 

The  stem,  roots,  and  branches  of  the  vine,  however 
numerous,  make  but  one  plant.  The  parts  of  the 
body,  however  varied,  make  but  one  body,  and  the 
members  of  a  family,  however  few  or  many,  near  or 
remote,  united  or  scattered,  make  only  one  family. 
The  nature  of  man,  consisting  of  body,  mind,  and 
spirit,  form  but  one  man.  So,  in  like  manner,  the 
whole  company  of  believers  of  all  ages,  of  all  disposi- 
tions and  peoples  and  tongues,  make  but  one  house- 
hold of  God,  one  spiritual  theocracy.  This  brother- 
hood or  body  of  Christ  is  one  in  all  its  essential  con- 
ditions, it  is  the  same  humanity  that  is  redeemed  in 
its  every  member,  and  every  member  of  this  family 
is  redeemed  by  the  same  blood,  called  with  the  same 
calling,  quickened  by  the  same  Spirit,  fired  by  the 
same  love,  taken  to  the  same  heaven,  and  brought 
near  to  the  same  Father. 

It  is  the  same  humanity  that  is  possessed  by  every 
member  of  the  human  race ;  what  is  peculiar  in  the 


UNION  AND  UNITY  OF  BE  HE  VERS.         319 

individiial  mode  of  possessing  it  constitutes  tlie  indi- 
vidiuality  of  tlic  person.  It  is  the  same  truth  that 
dwells  in  the  minds  of  all  believers  ;  what  is  peculiar 
in  the  individual  mode  of  apprehending  it,  is  what 
constitutes  the  specialty  of  that  believer's  mind.  It 
is  the  same  love  which  is  shed  abroad  in  the  hearts 
of  all  God's  children ;  what  is  peculiar  in  the  indi- 
vidual's mode  of  cherishing  it,  is  what  determines 
the  peculiarity  of  each  believer's  heart  and  life.  It  is 
the  same  God  that  dwells  in  the  redeemed ;  what  is 
peculiar  in  the  individual  mode  of  fellowship,  is  what 
constitutes  the  individuality  of  the  life  of  the  believer, 
and   determines   the   desfree  of  nearness  or  distance 

O 

between  him  and  God. 

Out  of  this  union  arises  the  unity  of  the  Church, 
a  unity  which  binds  together  into  one  the  several 
members  with  Christ  the  Head.  They  are  all  "  be- 
gotten of  God,"  and  made  "partakers  of  the  Divine 
nature."  As  Christ  is  the  incarnation  of  the  Divine, 
so  they  are  the  embodiment  of  the  Divine.  "  Of  His 
will  beo^at  He  us."  "We  are  members  of  His  flesh, 
of  His  body,  and  of  His  bones."  The  Church  is  His 
body,  "  the  fulness  of  Him  who  filleth  all  in  all." 

This  unity  includes  a  great  variety  of  things — a  few 
of  which  we  here  enumerate,  in  order  that  the  subject 
may  be  set  forth  with  some  little  approach  to  the  ful- 
ness which  it  deserves.  These  things,  therefore,  this 
unity  includes,  viz.,  a  oneness  of  relationship,  believers 
are  all  born  into  the  family  of  God,  and  constitute  His 
household.  They  are  all,  therefore,  brethren.  They 
have  all  a  oneness  of  spirit,  of  mind,  of  heart,  and  of 


320  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LITE. 

life.  They  have  a  oneness  of  love,  of  interest,  of 
righteousness,  of  glory,  of  joy,  and  of  destination. 
These  privileges,  and  they  might  be  greatly  increased 
in  number,  indicate  merely  lines  of  thought  which 
might  be  followed  out  at  length  with  much  profit, 
rather  than  constitute  a  setting  forth  of  the  subject. 
We  leave  it  to  the  reader  to  follow  out  this  matter 
for  himself,  assuring  him  that  in  doing  so  he  will  be 
richly  rewarded  for  his  labour. 

The  Church  of  Christ,  as  before  said,  is  essentially 
one,  consisting  of  the  regenerated  of  all  ages  and 
lands.  Her  members  on  earth  are  separated  by  time 
and  space,  and  distinguished  by  different  degrees  of 
attainments  in  the  Divine  life,  but  in  Christ  Jesus 
they  are  all  one.  In  her  present  state  the  Church  is 
unhappily  divided  into  sects,  in  which  condition  the 
formal  is  more  apparent  than  the  real,  the  divisions 
than  the  unity,  which  is  her  normal  state. 

In  consequence  of  her  position  and  compound 
elements,  the  Church  must  realise  more  or  less  conflict 
on  earth,  opposition  from  without,  and  imperfection 
within.  The  powers  of  light  and  darkness,  of  truth 
and  error,  of  the  love  of  God,  and  love  of  self,  must 
contend  Avitli  each  other.  The  light  and  love  of  the 
Divine  in  the  Church  must  provoke  the  opposition  of 
the  darkness  and  enmity  which  are  in  the  world,  and 
contend  with  them.  And  the  light  and  love  of  the 
Divine,  which  are  in  the  believer,  must  provoke  the 
carnal  to  opposition,  and  contend  with  the  ignorance 
and  love  of  self  which  still  remain  in  him. 

In  view,  then,  of  these  things,  a  perfect  Church, 


UNION-  AND  UNIT  Y  OF  BELIE  VERS.        3  2 1 

however  desirable,  is  not  to  be  looked  for  on  eartli ; 
this  can  only  be  attained  to  in  heaven.  And  the  one 
grand  distinction  between  the  Church  militant  and 
the  Church  triumphant  is,  that  the  latter  is  perfect  in 
light  and  love,  the  former  is  imperfect  in  both. 
Hence,  however  much  it  is  to  be  regretted  and 
guarded  against,  there  will  be  found  in  all  the 
ecclesiastical  organisations  of  the  Church  of  Christ 
on  earth  imperfections  of  a  twofold  kind,  viz.,  the 
existence  of  unregenerate  within  the  pale  of  the  de- 
nomination, and  shortcomings  on  the  part  of  the 
regenerate  belonging  to  all  the  sections  of  the  Church  ; 
and  in  guarding  against  the  intrusion  of  the  one,  and 
in  endeavouring  to  purge  out  the  evils  of  the  other, 
the  bearers  of  office  in  the  Church  should  be  careful 
lest  they  root  out  the  wheat  with  the  tares.  They 
ought  to  strive  to  present  to  the  world  not  a  perfect 
Church,  but  a  purifying  Church.  Not  members  that 
have  already  attained,  or  are  already  perfect,  but 
brethren  pressing  "toward  the  mark  for  the  prize  of 
the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus."  A  Church, 
in  short,  which  values  her  spiritual  life  far  more  than 
her  rational  accjuirement  and  her  formal  progress. 
The  spiritual  is  the  first  in  the  order  of  being  and 
importance,  and  ought  ever  to  be  supremely  desired 
by  the  children  of  God;  it  has,  however,  been  one  of  the 
besetting  sins  of  the  Church  that  she  has  looked  rather 
to  her  unity  in  the  formal,  than  in  the  real  and  spiritual. 
In  the  New  Testament,  while  formal  unity  is 
indul)itably  enjoined,  yet  the  great  stress  is  laid  on 
spiritual  unity,  e.g.,  "  If  any  man  have  not  the  Spirit 


o 


2  2  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 


of  Christ  lie  is  none  of  His,"  "  hereby  we  know  that 
He  abideth  in  us,  by  the  Spirit  which  He  hath  given 
us."  Indeed,  the  Church  can  enjoy  a  similarity  of 
form  only  in  as  far  as  she  possesses  a  oneness  of 
spirit ;  formal  unity  arising  from  any  other  source 
is  misleading  and  mischievous. 

The  position,  then,  assumed  is  this,  viz.,  that  the 
great  essential  in  the  Church  is  the  spiritual — that 
the  Church  on  earth  is  not  a  perfect  but  a  purifying 
institution.  ThrouQ-h  conversion,  the  Church  receives 
out  of  the  world  those  who  are  to  be  made  "meet 
for  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light."  Perfection, 
however  desirable,  is  not  to  be  looked  for  in  the 
members  of  the  Church ;  it  is  that,  however,  which 
is  placed  before  us  as  our  standard  of  duty,  and 
towards  which  we  are  enjoined  to  press  with  all 
our  mio;ht. 

Viewed  in  this  light,  the  Church  is  to  be  regarded 
as  an  hospital,  established  by  Christ,  for  the  cure  of 
souls  ;  or,  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  seminary,  designed 
for  the  instruction  of  those  who  are  ignorant  in  the 
things  of  God.  The  Church,  therefore,  can  only 
consistently  refuse  to  acknowledge  as  Christians  those 
whose  wounds  are  incurable.  As  long  as  any  exhibit 
signs  of  spiritual  life,  however  faint,  the  Church  ought 
not  to  exclude  them  from  her  pale  ;  and  as  long  as  a 
denomination  maintains  the  essential  truths  of  Chris- 
tianity, it  is  not  to  be  anathematised  by  the  others ; 
nor  are  they  to  refuse  to  hold  intercourse  with  it, 
unless  Christian  princi|ile  in  any  case  should  be 
imperilled  by  so  doing. 


UNION  AND  UNITY  OF  BELIEVERS.         323 

If  the  sections  into  wbicli  tlie  Churcli  of  Christ  is 
divided  are  not  prepared  to  look  upon  one  another  as 
essentially  corrupt,  however  much  they  may  differ 
and  bewail  the  corruptions  of  one  another,  they  are 
hound  to  recognise  one  another  as  sections  of  the  one 
great  family  of  God  in  Christ,  and  to  "  seek  the 
things  which  make  for  peace."  They  should  feel  it 
to  be  their  duty  to  work  together,  and  to  pray  that, 
in  due  time,  God  may  lead  them  to  see  in  the  same 
light  the  things  on  which  they  differ  at  the  present 
moment. 

If  the  sects  were  deeply  impressed  with  the  con- 
viction, that  perfection  was  in  the  agencies,  influences, 
&c.,  given  to  the  Church,  and  not  to  be  sought  for 
in  the  minor  points  about  which  they  differ,  and  over 
which  they  are  so  ready  to  wrangle  and  fight  that 
one  would  almost  suppose  salvation  depended  on 
them  ;  were  they  to  realise  the  fact  that  it  is  their 
duty  to  hold  lightly  minor  points  of  difference,  in 
comparison  with  the  grasp  with  wdiich  they  lay  hold 
upon  the  great  essentials  in  regard  to  which  they  are 
all  at  one ;  then  would  there  be  less  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  eventually  effecting  even  an  incorporate  unity, 
which  in  present  circumstances  must  be  pronounced 
an  impossibility. 

The  continuance  of  divisions  in  the  Church  is  a 
standing  memorial  of  the  inattention  of  His  disciples 
to  the  object  of  Christ's  prayer.  And  the  divisions 
themselves  are  a  striking  proof  to  the  world  that  His 
disciples  are  not  so  affectionate  to  one  another,  and 
so  devoted  to  Him  as  He  desires  they  should  be. 


324  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

Were  the  Clnireh  in  all  its  sections  earnestly  to  co- 
operate with  Him  tliat  His  prayer  might  be  answered, 
we  would  no  doubt  soon  see  the  realisation  of  the 
thing  prayed  for. 

The  denomination  tliat  refuses  to  co-operate  with 
other  denominations,  in  so  far  as  it  is  one  with  them, 
proves  itself  schismatic,  inasmuch  as  it  manifests  a 
greater  love  for  the  accidental  than  for  the  essential ; 
and  unless  it  is  prepared  to  say  that  the  things  on 
which  it  differs  from  the  other  denominations  are  of 
more  importance  to  Christianity  than  the  things  on 
which  it  is  at  one  with  them,  it  must  be  chargeable 
with  showinsf  more  love  for  the  less  than  it  shows 
for  the  greater.  It  sets  itself  in  opposition  to  the 
Saviour  in  His  prayer  for  unity,  in  thus  giving  chief 
prominence  to  the  very  grounds  of  the  difference 
which  divides  it  from  other  sections  of  the  Church ; 
and  in  doing  so  it  also  shows  a  greater  regard  for 
what  is  accidental  than  for  that  which  is  essential 
in  the  Divine  life. 

Are  we,  then,  to  be  understood  as  pleading  for  a 
rash  and  inconsiderate  laying  aside  of  all  our  minor 
differences,  and  rushing  into  a  formal  oneness  ;  this 
would  be  to  conceive  of  our  advocating  the  very  thing 
here  protested  against,  viz.,  the  placing  of  the  formal 
before  the  spiritual,  the  less  before  the  greater,  and 
the  accidental  before  the  essential.  What  we  wish, 
is  to  turn  the  attention  of  the  denominations  to  the 
fact  that  they  arc  one  on  the  great  essentials  of 
Christianity,  and  that  this  aspect  of  the  case 
should  ever  be  vividly  realised  by  them  and  set  in 


UNION  AND  UNITY  OF  BELIEVERS.         325 

tlie  foreground.  Our  oneness  ought  to  occupy  a 
deeper  place  in  our  hearts,  and  in  our  views  of 
Divine  truth,  than  the  points  on  which  we  are 
divided.  And  we  ought  ever  to  be  impressed  with 
the  fact,  that  by  so  doing,  w^e  shall  far  more  efficiently 
jiromote  the  glory  of  God,  the  honour  of  the  Church, 
and  the  conversion  of  the  world  than  is  now  possible. 
Let  us,  therefore,  drink  more  into  "  the  one  spirit," 
and  have  more  of  the  mind  of  Christ ;  let  us  cherish, 
more  ardently  than  we  do,  love  for  the  great  essentials 
of  spiritual  life ;  and  in  thus  drawing  near  to  the 
great  centre  of  attraction,  we  will  draw  near  to  one 
another,  our  minor  differences  will  fall  into  their 
proper  place,  and  perchance,  finally,  be  lost  sight  of 
in  the  oneness  of  light,  and  loveliness  of  the  Divine 
brotherhood. 

0  Thou  Eternal  Spirit  of  the  One  Jehovah,  breathe 
upon  us,  quicken  us,  and  come  down  upon  us  in  all 
the  plenitude  of  Thine  own  grace,  fill  us  with  Thine 
own  fulness  and  life,  and  make  us  one  Church,  the 
honoured  instrument  of  accomplishing  Thine  own 
glorious  work ! 


(  326  ) 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

EXALTATION  OF   THE   HUMAN  IN   THE   SONS  HIP   OF 

BELIE  VERS. 

In  the  reception  of  Christ  believers  are  "  raised  up 
and  made  to  sit  together  with  Him  in  heavenly 
places."  In  this  recej)tion  they  are  necessarily  raised 
into  the  realm  of  the  spiritual,  and  enabled  to  repose 
in  the  calm  fellowship  of  Heaven  itself  In  the 
measure  in  which  believers  receive  Christ  they  rise 
in  the  consciousness  of  the  Divine,  and  live  in  the 
visions  of  the  unseen.  "As  many  as  received  Him, 
to  them  gave  He  power  to  become  the  Sons  of  God, 
even  to  them  that  believe  in  His  name."  In  the 
reception  of  Christ  believers  necessarily  receive  the 
power  to  realise  the  Sonship.  In  the  very  act 
of  receiving  Him  they  become  possessors  of  the 
germ  of  the  Divine  life  in  their  souls,  and  set  out 
on  an  upward  progress  toward  perfection  whicli 
is  limited  only  by  the  perfection  of  the  Eternal 
Himself. 

God  in  giving  the  germ  of  a  reality  necessarily 
gives  the  right,  title,  aud  privileges  of  that  reality. 
In  giving  to  a  creature  the  germ  of  sentient  life,  He 
gives  that  creature  the  right,  title,  and  privilege 
to  him  to  enjoy  a  sentient  life ;  in  giving  to  humanity 


SONSHIF  OF  BELIE  VERS.  3  2  7 

tlie  germ  of  rational  life,  He  gives  to  tlie  possession 
of  humanity  the  right,  title,  and  privilege  of  living  a 
rational  life ;  and  in  giving  to  the  believer  the  germ 
of  the  Divine  life  in  His  Son,  He  gives  him  the 
right,  title,  and  privilege  of  living  that  life  up  to 
the  full  measure  of  his  capacity,  means,  and  oppor- 
tunities of  living  that  life.  Hence,  the  believer, 
through  believing  in  Christ,  receives  the  power  of 
the  Sonship,  and  in  the  consciousness  of  this  life 
realises  the  Sonship ;  in  the  reception  of  Christ  the 
believer  receives  the  right  of  the  Sonship,  and  in  the 
measure  of  his  life  in  Christ  is  he  conscious  of  the 
satisfaction  of  the  righteousness  of  Sonship.  But 
who  can  adequately  conceive  of  the  power  of 
the  reception  of  Christ  ?  What  is  there  in  being, 
life,  and  destiny,  that  Christ  has  not  the  title  to 
a  right  over  ?  What  is  there  among  the  possibilities 
of  honour,  glory,  and  bliss,  that  He  has  not  the 
ability  for  ?  And  what  is  there  amid  these  possibilities 
that  the  Father  will  not  give  with  Him  ?  "  He  that 
spared  not  His  own  Son,  but  delivered  Him  up 
for  us  all,  how  shall  He  not  with  Him  also  freely 
give  us  all  things  ?  " 

And  who  will  dispute  the  believer's  right  and  title 
to  the  benefits  of  the  Sonship,  to  the  consciousness 
and  delights  of  the  filial,  to  the  glorious  and  blissful 
realisations  of  the  oneness  of  the  subjective  human 
with  the  subjective  Divine  ?  This  cannot  be  dis- 
puted ;  for,  in  the  measure  of  the  believer's  conscious 
life  in  Christ,  he  realises  the  possession  of  that 
life.      The  believer's  Father   in  heaven  who   glories 


o 


2  8  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 


ill  His  Son  and  in  all  wlio  bear  His  image,  who  lias 
clone  so  mucli  to  jDroduce  the  filial  heart  in  the 
believer,  He  certainly  will  not  dispute  the  believer's 
right  and  title.  Were  He  to  deny  this  right  and 
title,  then  would  He  have  to  repudiate  His  own  Son, 
nay,  His  Son's  work  in  the  believer,  and  all  the 
manifestations  He  has  given  of  Himself  in  His 
Son.  And  will  the  Father  do  this  ?  Can  we  believe 
it  possible  that  He  could  do  any  such  thing  ?  Will 
the  Son  deny,  or  refuse  to  acknowledge,  the  Sonship 
of  the  believers  ? — the  Son  who  deliejhts  in  His  brethren, 
who  exults  in  the  work  He  has  accomplished  in  and 
for  them,  who  glories  in  their  fellowship  with  His 
Father,  with  Himself,  and  with  the  S23irit  —  then 
would  He  require  to  deny  Himself,  to  discard  His 
Sonship,  to  repudiate  His  work,  and  thus  tarnish 
His  glory  and  mar  His  own  bliss.  And  is  this 
the  object  for  which  He  sits  at  His  Father's  right 
hand,  for  which  He  received  the  gift  of  all  power 
in  heaven  and  earth,  and  for  the  completion  of  which 
He  is  to  come  again  at  the  end  of  the  world  in  the 
glory  of  His  Father  and  His  holy  angels  ?  Or  will 
the  Holy  Spirit  deny  the  Sonship  of  the  believer  in 
Christ,  and  refuse  to  acknowledge  his  right  and  title 
to  the  privileges  of  the  Sonship  ? — the  Spirit  who  pro- 
duces in  the  believer  all  that  is  j)eculiar  to  the  Son- 
ship,  the  Spirit  Avho  rejoices  in  perfecting  in  the 
believer  the  Sonship,  and  who  is  yet  to  present  him 
faultless  in  the  presence  of  God's  glory  with  exceeding 
joy — will  He  deny  the  Sonship  of  believers  then  ? 
Must   He   discard   His    own   doings,    repudiate    the 


SONSHIP  OF  BELIEVERS.  329 

very  work  He  lias  acliieved  in  tlie  face  of  so  much 
resistance  and  so  much  grief  ?  Will  He  reject  His 
own  doings,  den}^  Himself,  resist,  grieve,  and  quench 
in  His  turn  the  very  Divine  emotions  He  Himself 
has  produced  in  the  hearts  of  the  believers?  Is  it 
possible  for  us  to  conceive  that  the  Spirit  will  do 
any  such  thing  ? 

Will  the  heavenly  hosts,  the  sager  students  of 
God's  redemptive  work,  the  principalities  and  powers 
in  heavenly  places,  to  whom  God  displays  His 
manifold  wisdom  by  His  doings  in  the  Church, 
and  who  not  only  with  earnest  expectation  wait 
for  the  manifestation  of  the  Sons  of  God,  but  even 
delight  in  aiding  the  believer  in  his  working  out 
what  the  Spirit  works  in  him  to  will  and  to  do  of 
God's  good  pleasure — will  they  who  thus  minister 
to  the  heirs  of  salvation  refuse  to  acknowledge  the 
Sonship  of  believers  ?  Impossible  !  for  then  would 
these  holy  ones  be  guilty  of  rebellion  against  God, 
treason  towards  the  sovereign  Lord  of  the  universe, 
and,  consequently,  traitors  to  their  own  best  interests. 
Or  will  the  believer  himself,  who  rejoices  in  God 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  who  delights 
in  having  Christ  in  him  the  hope  of  glory,  will  he 
deny  his  own  Sonship  ?  If  he  does,  then  must  he 
fail  to  recognise  his  own  consciousness,  and  mis- 
understand the  movements  of  the  Divine  in  the 
realisations  of  his  own  inner  life.  And  this,  un- 
fortunately, he  frequently  does  in  consequence  of 
his  present  imperfect  condition,  and  the  co-minglings 
of  the  Divine  and  self  in  his  inner  life,  the  conflicts 


330  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

between  the  new  and  tlie  old  man  ;  lie  not  unfre- 
quently  mistakes  the  deeds  of  the  one  for  the  doings 
of  the  other,  the  fiery  darts  of  Satan  for  the  risings 
of  the  renewed  heart,  and  often  walks  in  gloom  and 
dejection  when  he  ought  to  he  rejoicing  in  the 
visions  of  the  unseen,  in  the  blissful  realisations  of 
the  risen  life. 

But  this  warfare  between  the  powers  of  light  and 
darkness,  and  consequent  confusion  of  mind  in  the 
Ijeliever,  will  not  always  last,  or  be  his  experience  for 
ever. 

The  world  and  the  devil  may  deny  the  Sonship  of 
the  believer,  and  strive  to  retard  his  progress  in  the 
Divine  life  ;  this,  however,  is  only  what  the  believer  is 
to  expect,  for  he  is  warned  to  that  effect,  and  for  his 
encouragement  he  is  told  that  greater  is  He  that  is 
for  him  tlian  all  they  that  are  against  him,  and  that 
all  this  opposition  will  be  overruled  for  his  highest 
good,  "  for  all  things  work  together  for  good  to 
them  that  love  God,  the  called  according  to  His  pur- 
pose ;"  "at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  shall  bow, 
of  things  in  heaven,  and  things  in  earth,  and  things 
under  the  earth,  and  every  tongue  shall  confess  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father." 
And  in  this  acknowledgment  of  the  Son,  there  will 
and  must  be  the  recognition  of  the  Sonship  of  His 
brethren. 

The  Church  of  the  first-born  in  heaven  ;  the  general 
assembly  of  the  just  made  perfect,  the  great  cloud  of 
witnesses,  the  gathering  together  of  all  that  is  in 
the  heavens   above,  and  in  the  earth  beneath,   and 


SONSHIP  OF  BELIEVERS.  331 

under  tlie  earth,  will  these  deny  the  Sonship  of 
believers  in  Christ,  or  refuse  to  acknowledge  the 
manifestation  of  any  of  the  Sons  of  God  ?  Surely 
not ;  they  sympathise  with  them  in  their  groanings, 
and  aid  them  in  their  travailing  in  pain;  they 
anxiously  wait  for  the  full  display  of  the  mystery, 
kept  secret  from  the  foundation  of  the  w^orld,  to 
be  given  to  all  intelligences,  and  anticipate  with 
joy  the  period  when  they  shall  behold  the  perfected 
Sonship  of  believers  in  the  manifestation  of  the  Sons 
of  God. 

But  how  can  the  Sonship  of  the  believer  in  Christ 
be  denied  ?  Will  it  be  disputed  that  the  love,  spirit, 
mind,  and  life  of  Christ  are  the  true  and  unfailing 
elements  of  the  Sonship  ;  or  will  it  be  maintained  that 
he  who,  by  faith,  has  received  Christ,  and  has  Him 
in  him  the  hope  of  glory,  and  who  in  the  possession 
of  Christ  possesses  these  elements  of  the  Sonship, 
has  not  the  right  and  title  to  the  Sonship  ?  There  is 
no  denying  of  the  Sonship  in  the  consciousness  of  the 
Divine,  in  the  consecration  of  all  that  is  in  the  Father, 
Son,  and  Spirit ;  of  all  that  is  in  the  principalities 
and  powers  in  heavenly  places  for  the  full  develop- 
ment of  the  Sonship,  for  the  bringing  out  into  highest 
manifestation  the  glorious  and  blissful  realisations  of 
the  Sonship. 

What,  then,  is  this  Sonship  of  believers,  this  Sonship 
of  which  they  only  now  receive  the  foretaste  in  its 
right,  title,  and  privilege,  by  believing  in  Christ. 
What  can  it  be  but  the  oneness  of  love,  spirit,  mind, 
life,   righteousness,   glory,   and  joy  with   God's  own 


332  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

Son,  tlie  ajDpearing  witli  Him  in  glory,  tlie  reiguiu^^^ 
with  Him  in  light,  the  realising  with  Him  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  Divine,  the  having  the  subjective 
human  in  a  oneness  with  the  subjective  Divine. 
And  what  higher  Sonship  can  the  believer  desire  ? 
What  more  illustrious  condition  of  existence  can  he 
aspire  to  ?  To  what  nobler  state  of  conscious  being  will 
he  ever  hope  to  ascend  ?  What  purer,  more  satisfying 
bliss  is  it  possible  for  him  to  realise  than  the  clear, 
deep,  and  uninterrupted  consciousness  of  a  oneness  of 
love,  spirit,  mind,  life,  righteousness,  glory,  and  joy 
with  God's  own  Son  in  the  completed  manifestation 
of  the  Divine,  the  fullest  disclosures  of  the  subjective 
in  God  ? 

Is  there  in  the  possibilities  of  renewed  humanity, 
capacity,  and  receptivity,  for  the  full  and  complete 
indwelling  of  the  Divine,  is  there  in  the  renewed 
nature  of  man  a  susceptibility  of  his  entering  into  a 
oneness  with  the  Infinite  and  Eternal  in  the  deep 
things  of  God  ?  There  is  in  the  designs  of  Godhead 
a  purpose  of  arraying  the  deathless  spirit  of  humanity 
wdth  the  meekness  and  gentleness  of  Christ,  of 
adorning  the  life  of  man  with  the  dispositions, 
motives,  and  principles  of  the  Incarnate  One.  The 
spirit  of  humanity  can  be  made  to  glow  with  the 
same  love  which  has  fired  the  bosom  of  God  Himself. 
There  is  in  man's  rational  nature  the  jDossibility  of  his 
receiving  the  very  ideas  which  have  occupied  the 
Infinite  Mind  itself;  there  is  in  the  illimitable  com- 
pass of  the  human  soul  a  possibility  of  its  being 
quickened  with  the  very  life  of  Him   who   is   the 


SONSHIP  OF  BELIEVERS.  333 

Living  One  who  liatli  life  in  Himself,  who  only  hath 
life  and  immortality ;  there  is  within  the  vast  and 
interminable  range  of  man's  immortal  spirit,  the 
possibility  of  his  being  brought  into  such  righted  or 
readjusted  relations  as  that  his  righteousness  shall 
be  one  with  that  of  the  Son  of  God.  There  is  the 
possibility  of  the  regenerated  life  shining  in  the 
glory  of  Him  who  is  the  brightness  of  His  Father's 
glory,  in  the  splendour  of  Him  whose  effulgence 
dazzles  created  vision  and  lights  up  the  corruscations 
of  suns  and  systems.  There  is  in  the  once  agonised 
spirit  in  the  sorrowing  heart  of  the  believer  the 
possibility  of  His  being  gladdened  with  the  joys 
of  Him  who  has  in  Himself  the  well-springs  of 
infinite  and  eternal  bliss.  And  there  is  a  desire 
cherished  in  the  Father-heart,  to  animate  the 
redeemed  spirit  with  the  consciousness  of  the  Divine 
nature,  the  perfect  life,  the  inexhaustible  bliss  of  the 
subjective  Divine.  In  the  mysterious  union  with 
the  Son,  the  believino-  soul  can  become  one  with  Him 
in  His  conscious  possession  of  all  the  fulness  of 
God. 

Here  our  philosophy  and  our  faith  diverge,  and 
appear  to  be  in  contradiction,  but  this  contradiction 
is  only  seeming  ;  the  explanation  is,  that  faith  rises 
into  regions  into  which  philosophy  cannot  ascend ; 
love  can  comprehend  what  intellect  cannot  conceive 
of,  ascending  in  the  flight  of  fancy  even  within  the 
sphere  of  reason.  I  can  mount  to  illimitable  heights, 
I  can  set  no  bounds  to  my  onward  progress  in  the 
future,  I  can  conceive  of  no  terminus  to  my  advance 


334  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

iu  knowledge,  to  tlie  development  of  my  faculties,  to 
tlie  enlargement  of  my  powers,  to  my  reception  of 
tlie  Divine,  to  my  assimilation  to  God.  Neither 
reason  nor  pliilosopliy  can  tell  me  how  I  may  be 
filled  with  all  the  fulness  of  God,  but  faith  assures 
me  that  in  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  the 
very  Divine,  the  very  Infinite,  the  very  Eternal  God 
is  united  with  the  very  human  in  a  oneness  of  per- 
sonality, dwells  in  the  very  human  in  a  oneness 
of  life,  and  fills  the  very  human  with  itself.  In 
this  fact — a  fact  indisputable  to  the  believer — faith 
announces  to  me  an  infinite  capacity  in  the  human 
for  the  indwelling  of  the  Divine,  a  boundless  recep- 
tivity for  the  reception  of  the  Infinite.  Eevelation 
declares  to  me  that  in  Christ  dwells  the  fulness  of 
the  Godhead  bodily ;  revelation  also  assures  me  that 
the  Spirit  of  God  takes  up  His  abode  in  man ;  and 
Christ  Himself  told  His  disciples  that  He  and  the 
Father  will  come  and  manifest  Themselves  in  them 
that  love  Him. 

Before  these  disclosures  of  revelation  my  mind  falls 
in  deepest  prostration,  and  exclaims  with  the  great 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles  :  "  0  the  depth  of  the  riches 
both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God  !  How 
unsearchable  are  His  designs,  and  His  w^ays  past 
findino-  out !  For  who  hath  known  the  mind  of  the 
Lord  ?  or  who  hath  been  His  counsellor  ?  Or  who  hath 
first  given  to  Him,  and  it  shall  be  recompensed  to 
him  again  ?  For  of  Him,  and  through  Him,  and  to 
Him,  are  all  thiugs :  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever  and 
ever.     Amen." 


SONSHIF  OF  BELIE  VERS.  3  3  5 

One  torch  communicates  to  anotlier  tlie  same 
flame  that  burns  in  itself,  and  the  very  same  idea 
dwells  in  the  mind  that  receives  it  as  dwells  in  the 
mind  that  imparts  it ;  the  parent  begets  the  very 
same  nature  and  life  in  the  child  that  he  possesses 
in  himself.  A  believer  in  Christ  can  hardly  be  so 
sceptical  as  to  reject  the  teachings  of  revelation 
because  of  the  mysteries  that  are  in  them,  or  refuse 
to  acknowledge  the  fact  that  there  are  mysteries  in  the 
Scripture ;  and  no  true  believer  can  be  so  vain  as  to 
imagine  that  he  can,  in  the  brief  period  of  his  present 
state,  comprehend  the  deeper  depths  of  the  things  of 
God.  Glory  be  to  God  because  of  the  mysteries  of 
His  Word,  and  for  the  unfathomable  depths  of  His 
redemption  !  The  keenest  analysis  cannot  detect  the 
full  life  of  the  oak  in  the  acorn  ;  still  it  is  there. 
Who,  therefore,  in  opposition  to  the  express  testi- 
mony of  Scripture,  can  maintain  that  believers  cannot 
be  made  partakers  of  the  "  Divine  Nature,"  or  imagine 
that  they  can  realise  the  fulness  of  the  Divine  life  in 
the  first  quickenings  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Well  may  it  be  said  of  the  "  Sons  of  God,"  that  it 
doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,  but  we  know 
that  w^hen  He  appears  we  shall  be  like  Him,  for  "we 
shall  see  Him  as  He  is."  And  well  may  the  believer 
exclaim,  "  Eye  hath  not  seen  nor  ear  heard ;  neither 
can  it  enter  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive  the 
things  that  are  laid  up  for  them  that  love  Him."  For 
the  believer  has  not  yet  already  attained,  neither  is 
he  already  perfect,  but  he  has  the  germ,  the  fore- 
taste, the  seal,  the  promise,  and  it  is  "  the  Father's 


356  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

good  pleasure "  to  give  liim  tlic  kiDgdom ;  it  is  the 
determination  of  God  that  all  His  children  shall  be 
one  in  the  fulness  of  their  heavenly  inheritance. 

The  time  is  approaching,  all  things  are  preparing, 
creation  from  her  inner  depths  is  heaving  her  inmost 
sigh  of  expectation,  -all  nature  is  travailing  in  pain, 
ton-ether  waitino^  for  "  the  manifestation  of  the  Sons 
of  God."  When  Christ,  the  Infinite  God,  shall  appear 
in  the  bright  effulgence  of  His  uncreated  light,  in  the 
full  splendour  of  His  infinite  majesty,  then  shall  His 
brethren  also  appear  with  Him  in  glory,  and  they 
shall  be  like  Him,  for  they  shall  see  Him  as  He  is ; 
and  then  shall  be  exhibited  a  scene  for  which  time 
might  well  prepare,  for  which  also  eternity  might 
wait,  and  for  which  angels  might  hope  and  saints 
tarry,  for  which  the  Spirit  of  God  Himself  might 
make  ready,  and  the  Eedeemer  travail  in  the  great- 
ness of  His  strength,  mighty  to  save ;  for  then  the 
deep  mysteries  of  God  will  be  clearly  disclosed,  and 
the  unsearchable  depths  of  sovereign  grace  fully 
displayed. 

Now  the  Church  is  militant,  then  shall  she  be 
triumphant;  now  and  here  her  salvation  is  but 
begun,  then  and  there  it  will  be  complete ;  now  on 
earth  we  have  to  hold  fast  the  beginning  of  our  con- 
fidence, then  in  heaven  we  shall  receive  the  fulness 
of  our  inheritance  ;  below,  we  see  "  but  through  a 
glass  darkly ;"  above,  "ftice  to  face; "  on  earth,  we  know 
but  "  in  part ;  "  in  heaven,  "  we  shall  know  "  even  as 
we  are  "  known."  In  all  this  the  disciple  is  as  His 
Lord.     Plere  He  appeared  as  a  humble,  dying  man  ; 


SONSHIP  OF  BELIEVERS.  337 

tliere  He  sliall  be  seen  as  tlie  "great  God"  iu 
glorious  majesty ;  and  wlien  He  shall  appear  in  His 
glory,  then  sliall  the  Sons  of  God  be  manifested  with 
Him. 

The  revelation  of  the  perfected  project  of  the 
Infinite  Mind  shall  then  be  displayed,  and  the  con- 
ception of  the  Eternal  Council  which  was  devised 
before  worlds  began,  made  known.  And  then  shall 
this  redemption  song  of  Jubilee  be  chanted  with 
joyous  hearts.  And  they  sung  as  it  were  a  new 
song,  the  song  of  Moses  the  servant  of  God,  and  the 
song  of  the  Lamb,  saying  :  "  Great  and  marvellous 
are  Thy  w^orks.  Lord  God  Almighty;  just  and  true 
are  Thy  ways.  Thou  King  of  Saints.  Thou  art 
worthy  to  take  the  book  and  to  open  the  seals 
thereof,  for  Thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us 
to  God  by  Thy  blood,  out  of  every  kindred,  and 
tongue,  and  people,  and  nation,  and  hast  made  us 
unto  our  God  kings  and  priests.  AVe  give  Thee 
thanks,  Lord  God  Alm'ighty,  which  art,  and  wast, 
and  art  to  come,  because  Thou  hast  taken  Thee 
Thy  great  power,  and  hast  reigned.  Even  so,  come. 
Lord  God  Almighty.  Hallelujah,  for  the  Lord  God 
Omnipotent  reigneth  1 " 


33S) 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

PERFECTION. 

The  Saints  of  God  have  ever  devoutly  longed  for 
perfection;  and  yet  tlie  most  advanced  among  tliem 
are  sadly  conscious  that  they  have  not  attained  to  it, 
that,  on  the  contrary,  they  are  very  far  from  reaching 
it.  Christ  Jesus  alone  presents  to  us  the  model 
perfection  of  the  Sonship,  or  pattern  of  Divine  life  in 
man.  In  Him  alone  we  have  a  perfect  example  ;  and 
it  is  only  in  our  endeavours  perfectly  to  copy  this 
example  that  we  make  any  approach  to  the  perfection 
for  which  we  lon^\  and  which  we  see  embodied  in 
Him. 

The  perfection  of  Christ  Himself  consists  in  the 
reality  of  the  incarnation,  the  fulness  of  the  Divine 
indwelling,  and  the  correspondence  of  His  life,  and 
being  with  the  subjective  and  objective  of  His  Father. 
And  the  perfection  of  His  people  can  only  be  realised 
in  their  experience  through  their  oneness  with  Him 
in  spirit  and  life. 

The  Scripture  doctrine  on  this  point  is  clear  and 
explicit.  The  Father  and  Son  are  indifferently  set 
before  believers  as  the  goal  towards  Avhich  they 
arc  to   press,    and   they  are   warned   against   being 


PERFECTION.  339 

content  with  any  lesser  attainment.  As  for  examj^le, 
when  Christ  Himself  says,  "Be  ye  perfect  even  as 
your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect."  And  the  apostle, 
after  referring  to  Christ  as  a  pattern,  sj)eaks  of  Him 
as  being  holy,  harmless,  and  undefiled  ;  and  to  the 
same  purpose  Paul  exhorts  believers  to  be  followers 
of  Christ  as  dear  children.  To  the  mind  of  the  sacred 
penmen  Christ  Jesus  is  the  perfection  of  all  excel- 
lence, and  in  setting  Him  before  us  for  our  imita- 
tion, they  show  as  clearly  as  it  is  in  the  ^^ower  of 
language  to  do,  that  it  is  in  following  Him  our 
chiefest  excellence  is  to  be  realised. 

The  Father  perfects  humanity  through  coming 
into  it  in  His  Son.  The  Son  perfects,  glorifies,  and 
blesses  humanity  in  proportion  as  He  is  received 
by  it ;  and  for  this  He  recjuires  entire  conformity  to 
Himself.  Were  He  to  demand  anything  short  of  this. 
He  would  sim^Dly  sanction  defect  in  the  disciple  and 
do  dishonour  to  Himself.  The  world  spurns  with 
contempt  the  demand  of  unqualified  reception  and 
complete  conformity  to  the  Son  of  God,  and  were  it 
left  to  itself  with  all  the  grace  of  God  in  its  view,  it 
would  not  be  benefited  by  His  salvation.  But  the 
Spirit  comes  Avith  the  things  that  are  Christ's, 
quickens  the  sinner,  and  prevails  with  him  to  yield 
himself  up  to  God  in  the  embrace  of  His  Son.  And 
as  the  sinner  submits  to  God,  he  is  "  raised  u^d  into 
newness  of  life,"  and  in  proportion  as  he  receives  the 
spirit  and  mind  of  Christ  is  he  perfect  with  Him  in 
the  Spiritual  and  Divine. 

In  yielding  u^d  to  the  strivings  of  the  Spirit  there 


340  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

must  be  no  halting  between  two  opinions.  In  the 
fellowship  of  life  with  Christ  there  must  be  no  dallying 
with  temptation,  no  tampering  with  conscience,  no  con- 
formity to  the  world.  If  there  be  not  this  unquali- 
fied reception  of  Christ,  and  entire  surrender  to  Him, 
there  cannot  be  perfection  in  the  fellowship  of  Divine 
life.  The  believer  realises  perfection  only  as  and  in  the 
degree  in  which  he  works  out  what  the  Spirit  works 
in  him,  to  will  and  to  do  of  God's  good  pleasure. 

In  order,  however,  to  this  unqualified  reception  of 
Christ  and  complete  conformity  to  Him,  there  must 
be  supreme  love  felt  for  Him ;  He  must  be  the 
greatest  of  all  in  the  heart,  the  understanding,  and 
the  life.  AVhen  Christ  is  thus  embraced,  the  inner 
life  is  calm,  consistent,  and  blissful,  whatever  may  be 
the  state  of  the  outer.  It  was  thus  that  Paul  appre- 
hended Christ,  and  herein  lies  the  secret  of  his  sublime 
Christian  career.  When  arrested  in  his  mad  attempt 
to  stifle  the  infant  cause  of  Christianity,  the  apostle 
saw  the  glory  of  God  and  felt  the  power  of  His  grace 
to  such  an  extent  as  thoroughly  to  convince  him  of 
the  supreme  excellence  of  the  person  and  work  of 
Christ ;  from  henceforth  ardent  love  for  the  Eisen 
Saviour  sprung  up  within  him ;  and  through  the 
crace  thus  shown  to  him,  he  became  one  of  the 
pillars  of  the  cause  which  he  formerly  sought  to 
destroy.  And  he  is  to  this  day  renowned  as  one  of 
the  greatest  champions  of  Christianity. 

Supreme  love  to  Christ  is,  indeed,  the  one  principle 
of  Christian  life,  and  until  this  is  realised  in  the 
experience  of  the  Church  and  the  individual  believer, 


PERFECTION.  341 

tliere  can  be  no  perfection.  Wheresoever  there  is 
felt  any  love  superior  to  the  love  borne  to  Christ, 
there  is  an  obstacle  to  the  reception  of  Him. 

This  demand  of  Christ,  however,  of  complete  sur- 
render to  Himself,  is  not  only  necessary,  it  is  also 
the  wisest  requirement  which  He  could  have  made. 
It  is  not  on  His  own  account  that  the  demand  is 
made,  but  for  the  sake  of  His  people.  He  asks  of 
them  the  surrender  of  their  entire  life,  that  He  may 
return  it  to  them  j)urer,  loftier,  and  sweeter  than 
when  it  is  yielded  up  to  Him.  His  own  words  are  : 
"Verily  I  say  unto  you,  there  is  no  man  that  hath 
left  house,  or  brethren,  or  sisters,  or  father,  or  mother, 
or  wife,  or  children,  or  lands,  for  My  sake  and  the 
Gospel's,  but  he  shall  receive  an  hundredfold  now  in 
this  time  houses,  and  brethren,  and  sisters,  and 
mother,  and  children,  and  lands,  with  persecutions ; 
and  in  the  world  to  come,  eternal  life." 

Whatever  affection  of  our  own  rivals  the  love  of 
Christ;  whatever  temper  of  our  own  restrains  His 
S23irit ;  whatever  notions  of  our  own  mingle  with 
"  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus ; "  whatever  motives  of 
our  own  enter  into  the  life ;  whatever  joy  is  sought 
not  in  Christ ;  whatever  relation  is  sustained  uncon- 
secrated  in  Him  :  these  all  tend  to  destroy  fellowship 
with  the  Divine,  they  indicate  imperfection  in  the 
life  of  the  believer,  and  are  defects  in  his  faith. 
There  must  be,  as  has  already  been  indicated,  no 
holding  back,  but  a  complete  self-surrender.  The 
Holy  Ghost  must  fill  and  consecrate  every  part  of 
a  believer's  life,  for  whatever  is  assimilated  in  the 


342  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

inner  life  tliat  is  not  of  tlie  Spirit  of  Christ,  mars  its 
beauty  and  hinders  its  j'^erfection. 

How  glorious,  then,  is  the  perfection  that  awaits  the 
believer ;  how  godlike  his  destination,  and  where  are 
the  fancied  incarnations,  apotheosis  or  pantheistic 
conceptions  (granting  for  a  moment  their  reality), 
that  can  compare  in  grandeur  and  importance  with 
this  perfection  of  the  human  in  the  Divine.  And  yet 
this  is  the  glorious  consummation  of  humanity  in  the 
family  of  the  Redeemed.  With  a  view  to  this  lofty 
exaltation,  humanity  was  created  in  the  image  of  God, 
gifted  with  its  vast  capacities,  and  favoured  with  its 
Divine  susceptibilities ;  for  this  high  perfection  it  has 
been  preserved  during  the  long  career  of  its  rebellious 
opposition  to  God ;  and  to  realise  this  wondrous 
indwelling,  the  Creator  of  all  worlds  condescended 
to  become  incarnate,  lived  among  men  on  earth  and 
died  the  accursed  death  of  the  cross,  and  ascended  to 
the  right  hand  of  majesty  on  high ;  and  for  the 
perfect  consummation  of  this  indwelling  God  enters 
into  the  life,  and  thus  the  perfection  of  the  being  of 
man  is  secured. 

The  indwelling,  however,  which  thus  secures  the 
perfection  of  humanity  does  not  dim  the  glory  of  the 
Infinite  Indweller,  it  only  affords  the  fit  opportunity 
to  Jehovah  to  display  the  purest  radiance  of  Divine 
perfection  to  created  intelligence,  and  it  furnishes  at 
the  same  time  the  richest  manifestation  of  eternal 
sovereicrn  m-ace. 

O         O 

For  this  indwellincj  creation  beiran  in  the  remote 
epochs  of  eternity  past,  for  this  perfection  providence 


PERFECTION. 


343 


lias  evolved  itself  in  the  flight  of  ages,  and  for  this 
consummation  redem^Dtion  has  displayed  its  surpassing 
wonders.  Let  faith,  then,  in  rapid  flight,  wing  her  way 
back  to  the  moment  when  first  eternity  recognised  the 
beginning  of  time,  let  her  dwell  in  meditation  on  the 
evolution  of  matter  from  its  primeval  chaos  to  its 
bright  and  shining  orbs,  let  her  listen  to  the  Almighty's 
fiat,  commanding  light  to  spring  out  of  darkness  ;  let 
her  view  the  Spirit  brooding  over  chaos  and  putting 
forth  His  forming  skill,  till  paradise  is  beheld  in  all 
the  loveliness  of  its  new-born  charms,  with  its  tenant 
man,  the  crown  and  glory  of  creation ;  and  what  is 
the  wondrous  majesty  displayed  to  her  view,  but  the 
fit  residence,  the  glorious  temple  of  Divine  majesty  ? 
And  from  this  vision  let  faith  descend  the  stream  of 
time  in  the  contemplation  of  the  designs  of  infinite 
wisdom,  as  manifested  in  the  difl'erent  dispensations 
of  God's  providence,  till  arrested  by  the  mysterious 
Incarnation  in  the  fulness  of  the  times.  And  what 
does  she  behold,  but  the  brightest  possible  manifesta- 
tion of  God  dwelling  in  man  !  Let  her,  then,  look  at 
the  sublime  life  of  "  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,"  and 
gaze  with  reverence  and  awe  on  the  dark  scenes  of 
Gethsemane  and  Calvary,  and  then  let  her  ascend  in 
wrapt  contemplation  of  the  glorious  ascension  on  high, 
and  let  her  behold  humanity  in  union  with  Divinity 
array  itself  in  the  splendour  of  never-fading  light, 
lifting  up  the  sceptre  of  universal  dominion,  and  seat- 
ing Himself  at  the  right  hand  of  Power,  amid  the 
acclamations  of  the  hosts  of  heaven ;  then  let  her 
return  to  earth  with  the  descending  Spirit  at  Pentecost 


344  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

and  witness  His  entrance  into  the  eleven,  filling  them 
with  grace  and  power ;  and.  through  their  preaching 
of  the  everlasting  Gospel,  striving  with  sinners,  con- 
verting them  into  saints  and  making  them  temples 
of  God.  Finally,  let  faith  anticipate  the  end  of  the 
age,  and  fly  with  the  speed  of  thought  over  the  ages 
of  millennial  bliss,  till  arrested  by  the  trump  of  the 
Archangel,  she  beholds  the  flame  of  the  universal 
conflagration,  the  destruction  of  the  sinful  earth,  the 
rolling  together  the  scroll  of  the  heavens,  polluted  by 
their  gaze  on  a  sinful  world ;  let  her  witness  the 
rising  of  the  resurrection  body  in  likeness  to  the  glori- 
ous body  of  the  Son  of  God;  let  her  anticipate  the  events 
of  the  judgment  of  the  world,  and  see  the  "  house  of 
many  mansions,"  the  final  and  complete  display  of  the 
Divine  to  created  vision  in  "  the  manifestation  of  the 
Sons  of  God,"  the  presentation  of  the  redeemed  "in 
the  presence  of  God's  glory  with  exceeding  joy;  and 
what  will  faith,  in  giving  place  to  sight,  see  but  the 
glory  of  the  redeemed  "  made  perfect  in  One,"  the 
unity  of  the  general  assembly  and  Church  of  the 
firstborn,  the  oneness  of  the  family  of  God  in  Christ, 
the  completed  indwelling  of  God  in  man. 

Then,  and  then  only,  shall  be  known  the  meaning 
of  that  profound  and  mysterious  utterance,  "I  in 
them,  and  Thou  in  Me,  that  they  may  be  j)erfect  in 
One." 

How  mysterious  a  being  is  man !  how  momentous 
the  interest  of  the  soul,  and  how  awful  the  guilt  of 
degrading  human  nature,  and  neglecting  the  privileges 
conferred  on  us  by  God  ;  and  how  inconceivable  the 


PERFECTION.  345 

infatuation  of  rejecting  Christ !  Eeader,  beware  !  The 
tiny  threads  of  the  spider's  web  twined  around  the 
bud  withstands  nature's  power  to  free  it ;  thus  im- 
prisoned there  is  neither  blossom  nor  fruit.  In  like 
manner,  simple  neglect  of  the  Gospel  will  for  ever  ruin 
the  soul ! 


(  346  ) 


CHAPTER  XXIIL 

DUTY  AND  RATIONALE    OF  PRAYER. 

As  already  indicated,  the  main  condition  under  wliicli 
man  is  quickened  Avith  the  Divine  life  is  the  yielding 
up  of  himself  to  the  Spirit  of  God  working  faith  in 
him.  And  haviug  attained  to  this,  the  condition  of 
his  after  progress  in  the  Divine  life,  is  his  praying 
"always  with  all  prayer  and  supplication  in  the 
Spirit."  Our  Lord  says,  "If  ye  abide  in  Me,  and  My 
words  abide  in  you,  ye  shall  ask  what  ye  will  and  it 
shall  be  done  unto  you." 

Prayer  is  the  hunger  of  \X\q  soul  after  God,  a  crav- 
ing brought  about  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is  the 
coming  in  desire  to  God.  The  opening  up  of  the 
capacities  of  the  soul  for  the  reception  of  the  gracious 
communication  of  the  Divine.  It  is  the  comino;  to 
God  the  Father  through  the  Son  and  by  the  Spirit 
in  the  fellowship  of  the  manifestations  which  He  has 
given  of  Himself.  It  is  the  askins:  for  the  i^race 
necessary  to  this  assimilation  in  the  assurance  that  if 
we  ask  we  shall  receive ;  hence  the  earnestness  w^itli 
which  Christ  enjoins  the  duty  of  prayer  on  His 
disciples,  "  I  say  unto  you.  Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given 


DUTY  AND  RATIONALE  OF  PRAYER.       347 

you ;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find ;  knock,  and  it  shall  be 
opened  unto  you  :  for  every  one  that  asketli  receiveth, 
and  he  that  seeketh  findeth,  and  to  him  tlicit  knocketh 
it  shall  be  opened  ;"  hence,  also,  the  powerful  argument 
with  which  He  enforces  the  duty,  "  If  a  son  ask  bread 
of  any  of  you  that  is  a  father,  will  he  give  him  a  stone? 
or  if  he  ask  a  fish,  will  he  for  a  fish  give  him  a  serpent  ? 
or  if  he  ask  an  ^gg,  will  he  offer  him  a  scorpion  ?  If 
ye  then,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts 
unto  youj*  children,  how  much  more  shall  your 
Heavenly  Father  give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that 
ask  Him." 

Absolute  independence  belongs  to  the  Infinite  God 
alone.  All  creatures  are  dependent  directly  or  in- 
directly on  God.  "  In  Him  we  live,  move,  and  have 
our  being,"  and  the  more  complex  the  nature,  the 
more  clearly  can  we  trace  its  dependence.  The  ani- 
niate  needs  more  than  the  inanimate,  rational  life 
more  than  mere  animal  existence,  and  spiritual  lacing 
needs  most  of  all.  Hence  man  stands  in  need  of  aid 
in  every  department  of  his  tripart  nature,  but  needs 
most  for  his  spiritual  life,  as  being  the  nearest  approach 
of  the  finite  life  to  the  Infinite.  Other  lives  may  be 
maintained  by  God  indirectly,  for  anything  we  know 
to  the  contrary,  Imt  spiritual  life  must  be  upheld  by 
Him  directly,  for  spiritual  life  is  that  which  constitutes 
its  possessor,  the  proper  subject  of  union  and  com- 
munion with  God,  and  it  is  that  through  which  God 
communicates  Himself  to,  and  holds  fellowship  with, 
His  offspring. 

The  immutabilitv  of  the  Creator  is  the  sjround  of 


348  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

the  creature's  entire  confidence  in  Him.  Were  the 
Ahnighty  capricious  or  changeable,  He  could  not  be 
the  proper  object  of  confidence  to  His  creatures.  This 
immutabilit}^  consists  in  the  unchangeableness  of  His 
nature,  purposes,  and  principles  of  combination,  but 
not  in  the  unchangeableness  of  His  manifestations, 
modes  of  operation,  or  forms  of  combination.  If  there 
were  no  diversity  in  the  manifestations  of  the  Divine, 
and  the  operations  of  the  Godhead,  there  would  be  no 
sphere  for  the  display  of  Infinite  Avisdom  ;  and  if  there 
were  no  unity  in  the  principle  of  Divine  action,  there 
could  be  no  ground  for  the  exercise  of  trust  in  God, 
on  the  part  of  the  creature. 

Every  species  of  life  is  sustained  by  its  own  proper 
kind  of  nourishment,  and  is  never  sustained  or 
preserved  in  a  state  of  health  by  anything  else. 
Animal  life  is  sustained  by  material  food,  rational  life 
by  an  intellectual  diet,  and  spiritual  life  by  "the 
bread  of  life  "  which  came  down  from  above.  Animal 
life  cannot  be  sustained  on  intellectual  food,  rational 
life  cannot  be  sustained  by  animal  food,  nor  spiritual 
life  by  rational  food ;  each  in  order  to  health  and 
vigour  must  have  its  own  proper  mother  aliment. 

In  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  God  has  furnished  man 
with  the  means  of  procuring  for  himself  an  abundance 
of  food  for  his  bodily  life ;  in  the  facts  and  operations  of 
nature  there  is  an  inexhaustible  store  of  food  for  the 
rational  life  of  man  ;  and  in  God  Himself,  as  brought 
near  to  us  in  His  grace,  there  is  supplied  to  us  a 
boundless  store  of  provision  for  the  soul.  To  obtain 
a  proper  supply   of  food  for  the  sustenance  of  his 


D  UTY  AND  RA  TIONALE  OF  PR  A  YER.       3  49 

body,  man  must  cultivate  the  soil ;  to  obtain  a  supply 
of  food  for  the  suj)port  of  his  rational  life,  he  must 
acquaint  himself  with  the  principles  of  truth  as  set 
before  him  in  the  works  and  AVord  of  God ;  and  to 
obtain  a  proper  supply  of  food  for  the  life  of  God  in 
the  soul,  he  must  wait  on  God  in  the  contemplation  of' 
His  grace,  "praying  always,  with  all  prayer  and 
supplication  in  the  spirit."  In  these  several  depart- 
ments we  must  diligently  use  the  appointed  means, 
or  go  without  the  requisite  suj)ply  of  nourishment, 
and  in  consequence  languish  and  ultimately  perish 
from  starvation.  Others  may  obtain  food  for  us, 
but  they  cannot  eat  for  us  our  portion  of  it ;  this  we 
must  do  for  ourselves.  Others  may  collect  informa- 
tion for  us,  but  it  must  be  comprehended  by  ourselves. 
Others  may  by  supplication  and  prayer  obtain  for  us 
the  blessing  of  God,  but  they  cannot  appropriate  for 
us  our  portion  of  "  the  Bread  of  Life." 

]\Ian  is  taught  by  nature,  revelation,  and  experience 
to  pray.  If  he  understands  the  constitution  of  his  being, 
he  will  not  only  perceive  that  prayer  is  in  perfect  accor- 
dance with  that  constitution,  and  the  condition  of  the 
Divine  life  in  his  soul,  but  he  will  also  find  that  in 
certain  circumstances  he  cannot  but  pray.  In  these 
circumstances,  in  which  nature  utters  her  own  voice, 
he  will  learn  from  his  own  experience  that  he  cannot 
but  pray.  Let  a  man  by  any  sudden  emergency  be 
thrown  into  a  danwr  that  threatens  to  ensrulf  him 
in  ruin,  and  whether  he  be  atheist,  infidel,  or  Christian, 
he  will  feel  impelled  by  the  instincts  of  his  nature  to 


35 o  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

pray ;  liis  soul,  constrained  by  her  inner  convictions, 
will  irresistibly  rise  in  supplication  to  God. 

Man  is  also  taught  by  revelation,  Christ  by  His 
example  teaches  him  to  pray,  the  Father  by  promise 
and  entreaty  urges  him  to  pray,  and  the  experiences 
of  Spiritual  life  lead  him  in  the  same  direction. 
When  the  soul  in  the  outo-oinos  of  faith  and  love 
rises  in  desire  after  God,  and  opens  the  deep  cavities 
of  his  inner  being  to  the  reception  of  the  Divine  that 
she  may  enjoy  closer  fellowship  with  God,  then  does 
the  believer  realise  that  there  is  a  power  in  prayer ; 
that  God  by  His  Spirit,  in  answer  to  his  longing 
desire,  descends  into  the  soul  and  fills  it  with  the 
joys  of  His  salvation  as  He  ravishes  it  with  the  bliss 
of  His  indwelling  presence.  And  when  we  carefully 
study  the  events  of  God's  providence  in  the  move- 
ments of  our  lives,  we  clearly  perceive  that  there  is  a 
power  in  prayer,  and  feel  constrained  with  the 
disciples  to  say,  "Lord,  teach  us  how  to  pray." 

Yet  some  men  are  reluctant,  and  refuse  to  pray, 
on  the  ground  that  they  can  see  no  connection 
between  prayer  and  the  events  of  everyday  life. 
Nay,  some  even  go  further,  and  deny  that  there 
can  be  any  connection  between  these  things.  But 
in  doing  so,  they  display  an  amazing  amount  of 
ignorance,  not  to  speak  of  imj)iety.  All  men  grant 
that  there  is  a  connection  between  the  cultivation  of 
the  soil  and  an  abundant  harvest,  and,  therefore, 
they  till  the  ground.  All  men  admit  that  there  is  a 
connection  between  the  study  of  nature  and  the 
growth  of  the   human   mind   in    knowledge.      But 


D  UTY  AND  RA  TIONALE  OF  FRA  I 'ER.       3  5 1 

because  tliey  do  not  see  the  connection  between 
prayer  and  its  answer,  they  deny  that  there  is  any 
such  connection.  Now  Avere  it  even  so  that  we  could 
see  no  connection  between  prayer  and  its  answ^er,  and 
could  at  the  same  time  see  clearly  every  link  in  the 
connection  of  cause  and  effect  in  the  physical  and 
mental  progress  of  man,  this  would  be  no  solid  ob- 
jection to  prayer.  Much  less  would  it  justify  us  in 
refusing  to  do  what,  as  we  have  seen,  Nature  herself 
prompts  us  to,  what  God  Himself  expressly  commands 
us  to  do,  and  what  the  experience  of  spiritual  life 
urges  and  encourages  us  to  do. 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  in  this  objection  to 
prayer,  there  is  both  too  much  expected  on  the  one 
hand,  and  too  much  assumed  on  the  other.  The 
truth  is,  that  in  natural  causation,  the  connection  is 
no  more  seen  than  is  the  connection  in  Divine  causa- 
tion ;  strictly  speaking,  the  connection  in  both  is 
one,  and  in  urging  upon  men  the  duty  of  prayer, 
much  might  be  urged  on  the  plea  that  prayer  is  the 
lansuao'e  of  faith  and  not  of  siirht,  and  much  mioht 
be  made  of  the  fact  that  we  are  commanded  by  God 
to  pray,  and  that,  therefore,  on  the  simple  principle 
of  recognising  the  authority  of  God,  "  men  ought 
always  to  pray,"  and  further,  that  it  is  irrational  and 
impious,  because  we  see  no  connection  between 
prayer  and  its  answer,  to  refuse  to  pray.  But 
waiving  these  grounds,  let  us  look  at  the  objection 
more  closely,  and  see  if  it  be  really  as  valid  as  its 
supporters  would  have  us  to  believe. 

Nature,  as  is  well  known,  has  not  as  yet  revealed 


352  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

to  ii§  every  link  in  tlie  cliain  of  cause  and  effect. 
Science  cannot  explain  to  us  the  nexus  wliicli  binds 
the  cause  to  its  effect ;  it  has  not  as  yet  conducted 
us  through  all  the  departments  of  Nature's  workshop, 
nor  shown  to  us  the  entire  process  of  all  her  fabrica- 
tions, nor  led  us  into  the  knowledge  of  all  the 
qualities  of  every  element  of  matter,  and  all  the 
relations  which  do  subsist,  or  may  subsist,  among 
them,  and  how  she  combines  her  forces  in  brinoinf}^ 
about  this  or  that  result.  Science  cannot  throw  all 
the  liolit  we  desiderate  on  the  connection  which 
subsists  between  means  and  end,  nor  can  it  show  us 
the  bond  which  binds  together  the  different  atoms  of 
matter,  nor  tell  us  what  are  the  simple  elements  or 
elementary  forces  of  matter,  and  how  they  operate 
in  harmonious  or  discordant  combinations.  It  cannot 
lay  bare  the  connection  which  subsists  between  mind 
and  matter — how  matter  influences  mind,  and  mind 
acts  on  matter,  or  how  spirit  acts  on  spirit,  and 
ojDcrates  in  mind. 

If  the  physical  laws,  about  the  immutability  of 
which  we  hear  so  much  now-a-days,  be  such  as  to 
preclude  the  very  possibility  of  answer  to  prayer, 
and  make  it  absurd  for  us  to  pray  with  any  prospect 
of  receiving  an  answer,  will  those  who  thus  speak 
explain  to  us  the  cause  of  the  variations  which  are 
ever  taking  place  in  the  lives  of  individual  men,  or 
in  the  movements  of  Divine  providence  ? 

If  all  events  happen  in  accordance  with  an  eternal 
law  of  matter,  how  is  it  that  no  two  results  in 
chemical  experiment,   in    the   operations   of  nature, 


D  UTY  AND  RA  TIONALE  OF  PR  A  YER.       3  5  3 

or  in  the  actions  of  man,  turn  out  alike  ?  We  would 
not  tlms  deny  the  existence  of  eternal  and  immut- 
able principles,  by  no  means  ;  and  here,  if  we  mistake 
not,  lies  the  solution  of  the  difficulty  which  presses 
in  connection  with  material  laws. 

Law  is  nothing  more  than  the  mode  or  invariable 
manner  in  which  certain  forces,  in  certain  combina- 
tions, act.  And  as  forces  are  dependent  on  atoms, 
and  the  relations  in  which  the  atoms  stand  to  each 
other  severally,  the  mode  in  which  the  forces  act 
cannot  be  eternal,  but  the  principle  of  their  o]3eration 
is,  and  must  be,  eternal,  viz.,  that  the  exact  same 
forces,  in  the  exact  same  relation  to  each  other,  or  in 
the  exact  same  combination,  will  ever  be  found  to 
produce  the  exact  same  result. 

It  is  involved  in  the  very  idea  of  cause  and  effect 
that  the  effect  depends  on  the  cause,  the  end  on  the 
operation  of  the  powers  in  combination,  the  action 
on  the  will  of  the  actor.  It  is  one  of  the  first 
teachings  of  reason  that  an  end  cannot  be  looked  for 
but  through  the  employment  of  the  means,  that 
effect  cannot  proceed  but  from  an  adequate  cause, 
and  that  like  causes  must  ever  produce  like  effects. 
Whence,  then,  the  variety  which  we  find  all  around 
us  in  the  operations  of  nature,  and  in  mind  and 
spirit  ?  Philosophy  cannot  explain  these  varieties  on 
its  jDrinciple  of  immutable  law,  nor  can  philosophers, 
by  clinging  to  this  doctrine,  ever  reach  an  adequate 
explanation  of  the  variety  referred  to.  Can,  however, 
the  principle  involved  in  the  doctrine  of  prayer  throw 

z 


334  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

any  liglit  on  tliis  important  subject  ?     Let  us  liumLly 
inquire  if  it  can. 

The  object  cliiefly  souglit  in  prayer  is  the  progress 
of  tlie  kingdom  of  God  in  tlie  hearts  of  men  individu- 
ally and  in  tlie  world.  Prayer  is  the  asking  of  God 
to  regulate  the  events  of  His  providence  by  the  opera- 
tions of  His  Spirit,  so  that  the  soul  of  the  petitioner 
may  be  assimilated  to  God  ;  it  is  the  asking  of  God 
to  conform  all  lives  to  the  pattern  of  His  Son's  life, 
and  to  regulate  the  movements  of  His  providence  and 
the  operations  of  nature,  so  as  to  subserve  this  end. 
This  request  involves  two  things,  viz.,  God's  agency 
in  combination,  or  His  control  over  the  operations  of 
nature ;  and  the  giving  of  His  Spirit  to  influence 
subordinate  agents,  so  as  to  lead  them  to  co-operate 
with  Himself.  And  in  this  there  is  nothing  inconsis- 
tent with  the  character  of  God,  the  co-operation  of 
subordinate  agency,  or  the  operations  of  nature. 

We  speak  of  forces  and  of  agents,  we  speak  of 
particles  of  matter  as  possessed  of  energy  and  capa- 
city, and  thus  we  conceive  of  the  negative  and  j)osi- 
tive  forces.  If  one  atom  is  brought  into  contact  with 
another,  the  energy  in  the  one  will  unite  with  the 
energy  in  the  other,  or  repel  it ;  and  thus  there  will  be 
an  increase  of  force,  or  a  decrease,  as  the  case  may  be. 
And  thus,  power  in  matter  is  not  uncontrolled,  but 
dependent  on  the  combination  of  atoms  in  Avhich  it 
resides ;  and  every  combination  of  atoms  recj[uires 
the  action  of  one  or  more  agents,  and  a  plurality  of 
agents  involves  a  subordination,  and,  as  a  result,  a 


DUTY  AND  RATIONALE  OF  PR  A  YER.       355 

supreme   actor   or   ultimate  combinator.      These  we 
may  postulate  as  primary  beliefs. 

The  forces  inherent  in  elements  continue  ever  the 
same,  and  differ  only  in  their  mode  of  ojDeration  ;  but 
this  difference  in  the  mode  of  operation  is  the  result 
of  difference  of  their  combination,  and  is  no  alteration 
of  their  nature.  The  proper  idea,  then,  of  causation, 
is  the  order  observed  in  combination,  and  the  immut- 
able law  of  physical  nature  is  merely  the  necessity  of 
the  forces  combined,  to  act  in  accordance  with  the 
principle  of  their  combination.  Combine  so  many 
elements  possessed  of  certain  characteristics,  and  you 
will  have,  as  often  as  you  make  the  combination,  the 
same  result.  Alter  in  the  least  the  mode  of  the  com- 
bination, either  in  the  number  of  the  elements  or  in 
the  order  of  their  arrangement,  and  you  have  a  corre- 
sponding alteration  in  the  result.  Combine  so  many 
agencies  of  the  same  nature  to  act  in  the  same  manner, 
and  you  will  have  the  same  result  as  often  as  you 
make  the  combination.  Alter  the  combination  in  the 
number  or  order  of  the  agents,  and  to  that  extent 
you  will  have  a  change  in  the  result. 

We  know  of  nothing  on  which  to  ground  the  idea 
that  the  Almighty  has  subjected  Himself  to  any 
principle  or  law  of  combination  which  excludes  Him 
from  the  free  exercise  of  His  function  as  Supreme 
Combinator,  and  if  He  has  reserved  to  Himself,  as 
doubtless  He  has,  the  right  of  the  free  exercise  of  the 
power  of  combination  in  connection  with  all  His 
creatures,  has  He  not  done  this  in  perfect  harmony 
with   the  nature   He   has   given   to   them,   and   the 


356  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

principles  of  His  rigliteous  administration  ?  And  it 
is  surely  conceivable  that  whenever  He  pleases  He 
may  make  any  combination  to  bring  about  whatever 
result  in  nature,  providence,  or  redemption  which 
may  seem  good  to  Him,  whether  in  answer  to  prayer 
or  otherwise.  It  is  surely  not  a  wild  idea  to  suppose 
that  God  has  so  arranged  the  principles  of  His 
government,  that  prayer  shall  form  an  element  of 
power  in  the  combinations  of  causation.  As  already 
indicated  it  is  clear  from  the  nature  of  man  that  he 
is  formed  to  pray,  and  as  all  Christians  hold,  experi- 
ence shows  that  God  does  answer  prayer.  It  is,  more- 
over, demonstrable — we  hold  from  the  entire  history  of 
mankind — that  God  has  in  His  providence  over  man 
constituted  prayer  an  element  in  causation.  All 
history,  in  fact,  proves  that  asking  is  a  means  to  an 
end;  every  page  that  records  the  deeds  of  men  or 
nations  shows  that  the  most  important  events,  which 
have  taken  place  in  the  providence  of  God,  have  been 
brought  about  through  the  instrumentality  of  asking. 
Yes,  events  the  most  unlikely  to  occur  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  nature  have  been  brought  about  through  the 
power  of  asking.  What,  e.rj.,  secured  the  deliverance 
of  Eome,  when  every  other  means  failed,  but  the 
urgent  prayer  of  the  mother  and  wife  of  Coriolanus  ! 
What  rescued  the  Jewish  nation  from  the  destruction 
which  the  crafty  malice  of  Haman  had  prepared 
for  it,  but  the  petitioning  of  Esther !  What,  again, 
was  the  prevailing  element  in  bringing  about  the 
death  of  our  Lord  when  Pilate  was  anxious  to  let 


D  UTY  AND  RA  TIONALE  OF  PR  A  YER.       3  5  7 

Him  go,  but  the  urgent  request  of  the  rulers,  and  the 
loud  cries  of  the  Jewish  mob. 

Volumes  might  be  written  on  the  things  which 
have  taken  place  in  answer  to  requests  made.  The 
principle  of  petition  we  maintain  enters  largely  into, 
and  acts  powerfully  among,  the  elements  of  causation  ; 
indeed,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  another  so  general 
in  the  relations,  and  influential  in  the  movements  of 
human  life.  What  Ave  are  to  guard  against  is,  not 
the  idea  that  prayer  acts  in  the  movements  of  life, 
but  the  supposition  that  the  principle  of  petition 
acts  alone  irrespective  of  or  in  opposition  to  the 
other  elements  of  causation,  a  means  necessary  to 
an  end. 

Now,  if  God  has  assigned  so  prominent  a  position 
and  influence  to  the  principle  of  petition  among  the 
doino-s  of  His  creatures,  is  it  not  unreasonable  to 
affirm  that  He  has  reserved  to  Himself  no  power  of 
being  influenced  thereby.  It  would,  indeed,  be  strange 
if  God  has  constituted  man  so  that  in  certain  circum- 
stances he  must  pray  to  his  Father,  but  that  his 
Father  has  so  tied  up  His  own  hands  by  physical  laws 
that  He  cannot  hear  and  answer  the  cry  of  His  dutiful 
child.  There  is  something  almost  monstrous  in  the 
thought  that  the  power  of  petition  moves  man  in 
every  sphere  and  circumstance  of  his  life,  but  that  it 
can  have  no  influence  with  God.  If  God  has  reserved 
to  Himself  the  supreme  power  in  every  combination, 
and  has  constituted  prayer  an  element  of  causation, 
it  will  take  far  w^eightier  reasons  than  have  yet  been 
advanced   to   persuade   the  unprejudiced  mind  that 


35S  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

when  man  acts  in  accordance  witli  the  promptings  of 
his  nature  and  the  command  of  God,  God  can  in  no 
wise  act  so  as  to  secure  an  answer  to  that  prayer ; 
and  all  because,  forsooth  !  certain  philosophers  w^ill 
have  it  that  physical  law  is  unalterable.  Surely  the 
unbelief  that,  on  this  ground,  refuses  to  see  how  prayer 
can  be  answered  is  far  more  credulous  than  is  the 
most  unassuming  of  all  those  Avho  believe  and  pray, 
because  in  their  simplicity  they  expect  that  God  will 
hear  and  answer  their  cry. 

Physical  law,  as  already  indicated,  is  nothing  else 
than  the  necessity  that  like  combinations  shall  produce 
like  effects.  Now,  is  this  any  obstacle  to  the  answer- 
ing of  prayer  ?  On  the  contrary,  it  is  rather  a 
guarantee  that  prayer  can  be  answered.  If  every 
effect  in  physical  science  be  what  it  is  by  the  presence 
or  absence  of  this,  that,  or  the  other  element  of  com- 
bination, then  the  presence  or  absence  of  an  element 
must  affect  the  result.  And,  in  point  of  fact,  the  his- 
tory of  man  illustrates  the  truth  of  this  position,  for 
the  most  trivial  as  well  as  the  mightiest  and  most 
important  events  in  human  history  have  been 
influenced  by  petition,  and  have  been  brought  to 
pass  at  the  same  time,  in  entire  accordance  with  the 
operations  of  universal  law. 

Reader,  acquaint  yourself  with  all  the  results  of 
petition.  Go  to  the  selfish,  parsimonious,  and  grudg- 
ing creature,  man;  get  from  him  by  petition  what 
otherwise  you  would  not  receive,  and  obtain  it  in 
perfect  accordance  Avith  the  law  of  his  nature,  and 
the  ordinary  principles  of  his  conduct.     And,  then. 


D  UTY  AND  RA  TIONALE  OF  PR  A  YER.       3  5  9 

realise  tlie  deep  promptings  of  your  own  inner  being, 
beckoning  your  desires  Godward,  forget  not  the  com- 
mands and  encouragements  He  has  given  you  to  pray, 
but,  ah !  request  not  anything  of  Him,  lest  you 
grieve  and  vex  His  Spirit,  by  reminding  Him  of  the 
folly  and  weakness  of  interlacing  Himself  with  immut- 
able laws  to  such  an  extent  that  He  cannot  take  any 
notice  of  the  requests  addressed  to  Him,  in  compliance 
with  His  own  commands.  Oh,  spare  the  tenderness 
of  His  heart,  the  melting  compassion  of  His  love,  lest 
you  cause  Him  to  repent  that  He  has  so  interlaced 
Himself  with  immutable  physical  laws,  that,  although 
His  children  cry  unto  Him,  and  His  own  bowels  yearn 
over  them  because  of  their  wretchedness.  He  is  yet 
wholly  helpless  to  aid  them  in  the  very  least,  or  to 
move  in  accordance  with  the  desire  of  His  heart. 

But  it  w^ould  appear  that  we  are  mistaken  in  attri- 
butins:  care  and  minute  attention  to  God,  for  the  all- 
important  discovery  of  the  new  philosophy  is,  that 
"  God  does  not  take  up  His  attention  with  small,  but 
only  with  great  matters."  The  Great  God  not  taking 
up  His  attention  with  small  matters !  What,  we  ask, 
are  small  or  great  matters  to  Him  ?  Does  He  not 
from  the  minute  advance  to  the  vast  ?  His  concep- 
tions of  small  and  great  are  not  like  ours.  Is  He  not 
every  day  proving  to  us  that  we  can  form  no  proper 
estimate  of  small  and  great  1  He  is  ever  showing  us 
that  Avhat  we  suppose  to  be  small  or  trivial  often 
turns  out  to  be  that  which  has  folded  up  in  it  the 
most  important  and  lasting  results,  which  affect 
deeply  the   entire  lives  of  those  connected  with  it ; 


-,60  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 


o 


the  wellbeing  of  communities  and  the  destiny  of 
nations.  How  conspicuously  is  this  truth  seen  in 
what  are  regarded  as  small  sins.  And,  on  the  other 
hand,  how  often  do  we  find  that  what  we  have 
looked  forward  to  as  of  great  importance,  passes 
away  as  a  shadow  of  a  dream  !  AVe  dare  not  thus 
limit  God,  who  is  found  to  be  equally  present  and 
careful  in  the  formation  of  the  insect's  wing  and  in 
the  creation  of  a  planet  or  an  entire  solar  sys- 
tem. 

And  this  wonderful  announcement  that  "  God  does 
not  take  up  His  attention  with  the  small  but  only 
with  great  matters,"  is  pompously  given  forth  as  the 
great  discovery  of  the  enlightened  wisdom  of  the 
age.  But  every  tyro  knows  that  such  nonsense 
is  only  the  resurrection  of  the  epicurean  dream,  the 
dictum  of  ancient  sceptics  found  in  the  writings  of 
the  sophists,  and  as  old  as  the  delusions  of  Satan. 
We  have  only  to  study  the  record  of  the  ancient 
schools  to  meet  with  this  very  doctrine,  which  in 
these  days  is  given  forth  with  the  most  oracular 
assurance  to  the  youth  assembled  for  the  study 
of  that  volume — every  page  of  which  teaches  them  to 
pray.  Not  to  speak  of  the  intelligence,  wisdom,  and 
piety,  where,  we  would  ask,  is  the  kindness  of  the 
professor  to  his  students,  or  of  the  minister  to  his 
peoj)le,  who  would  perplex  and  harass  them  by 
teaching  such  views  to  the  youth  or  the  congregation, 
convened  for  the  study  of  the  doctrines  of  Him  who 
taught  that  the  j)i'ovidence  of  God  extended  even  to 
the  numbering  of  the  hairs  of  our  head,  and  to  the 


D  UTY  AND  RA  TIONALE  OF  PR  A  YER.       3  6 1 

observing  of  the  fall  of  a  sparrow ;  and  wlio  taught 
that  if  man,  even  though  selfish,  knows  how  to  give 
good  gifts  unto  his  children,  our  heavenly  Father  is 
much  more  inclined  to  give  good  things  to  them  that 
ask  Him  ;  and  who  not  only  taught  His  disciples 
to  pray,  but  Himself  spent  whole  nights  in  prayer  on 
the  cold  mountain  slopes. 

In  comparison  with  the  dogma  referred  to,  it  is  not 
only  more  scriptural,  but  also  far  more  philosophical, 
to  instruct  students  of  theology  and  congregations  of 
worshippers  that  God  is  everywhere  present  through 
all  His  works,  and  that  while  His  nature  is  unchange- 
able. His  modes  of  operation  are  ever  so  changing 
that  no  two  of  His  acts  are  precisely  alike,  and  from  this 
to  teach  them  that  there  is  nothing  so  variable  as  the 
phenomena  of  Divine  Providence,  or  the  operations 
of  physical  law,  but  that  these  variations  in  the  phe- 
nomena of  physical  law  do  not  happen  from  any 
change  in  the  principles  of  the  Divine  administration, 
but  simply  from  a  difierence  in  the  nature,  number, 
or  order  of  the  elements  in  combination.  It  is  both 
scriptural  and  philosophical  to  believe  that  Jehovah, 
sitting  on  the  circle  of  the  universe,  can  at  any  time 
send  forth  an  infi.uence  through  all  the  ranks  of  being, 
and  thereby  affect  the  elements  and  agents  of  His 
government  in  such  a  way  as  to  secure  in  perfect 
harmony  with  the  nature  of  His  creatures  any  event 
He  may  desire  to  bring  about.  Or,  if  there  be  no 
existing  power  to  accomplish  His  end,  He  can  when 
He  chooses  create  such  a  power. 

If   God   has   established   a    subordinate   order   of 


362  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

agencies  and  powers,  it  takes  no  great  stretch  of  im- 
agination to  regard  Him  as  accomplishing  through 
them  whatever  He  pleases,  and  also  as  doing  this  in 
answer  to  the  prayers  of  His  dutiful  children. 

There  are  more  things  in  nature  than  philosophy 
has  ever  dreamed  of ;  and  the  great  vice  of  the  dis- 
ciples of  unbending  physical  law  is  the  assumption, 
that  because  physical  nature  does  not  lay  God  bare 
before  their  eyes  in  His  being  and  working,  therefore, 
it  is  questionable  as  to  whether  He  exists  at  all ;  or, 
if  He  does  exist,  whether  He  has  anything  to  do  with 
the  affairs  of  men ;  and  as  they  deal  with  God,  so  they 
also  deal  with  all  matters  in  any  way  supposed  to  be 
connected  with  Him.  The  Spiritual  is  relegated  into 
the  background,  and  the  physical  set  prominently 
forward. 

It  is  an  easy  matter  for  such  2:)ersons,  though  not 
very  philosophical,  to  deny  what  believers  have  al- 
ways affirmed,  viz.,  that  matter  and  mind  are  wholly 
different  substances  though  compatible  substances, 
and  that  the  former  is  subordinate  to  the  latter.  It  is 
also  easy  to  deny  all  Satanic  as  well  as  Divine  influ- 
ence. As,  for  example,  when  it  is  said  that  Satan 
brought  about  the  ruin  that  overtook  the  patriarch 
Job,  it  is  easy  we  say  to  deny  this,  because  that  it  is 
all  explicable  on  natural  grounds,  but  it  is  not,  there- 
fore, an  evidence  of  wisdom.  Our  position  is  that 
mind,  angelic,  human,  or  demoniac,  has  power  over 
matter,  and,  God  permitting,  can  form  new  combina- 
tions, and  bring  about  new  results  good  and  bad.  It 
is  neither  so  foolish  nor  unphilosophical   as  the  dis- 


DUTY  AND  RATIONALE  OF  PRAYER.       i<Si 

ciples  of  physical  law  seem  to  fancy  tlie  assertion, 
viz.,  that  the  angel  of  death  may  blow  in  the  face  ot 
the  enemy  as  he  passes  through  their  midst,  and  that 
the  angel  of  the  Lord  encamps  round  about  them 
that  fear  Him,  and  that  all  is  done  in  accordance 
with  the  principles  of  universal  law. 

The  utmost  efforts  of  the  ablest  and  most  consistent 
advocates  of  immutable  physical  law  fail  to  satisfy  us 
that  the  different  prohibitions  and  commands  of  God 
to  these  different  orders  of  spiritual  agents  have  no 
connection  with  the  prayers  of  His  people.  Or,  that 
the  prayers  of  one  individual  have  no  influence  on 
the  destiny  of  another.  Nothing  which  they  have  to 
advance  can  shake  intelligent  confidence  in  the  belief 
that  the  petitions  of  one  age  have  a  bearing  on  the 
condition  of  another.  The  upholders  of  invariable 
physical  law  cannot  show  us  that  trivial  matters  in 
themselves,  but  mighty  in  their  results,  may  not  have 
had  some  connection  with  prayer.  Such,  e.g.,  as  the 
glance  of  Bruce's  eye  to  the  repeated  efforts  of  the 
spider  when  his  case  seemed  hopeless,  the  awakening 
of  Luther's  desire  in  his  cell  to  turn  over  the  pages 
of  his  Bible  ;  or  the  impression  on  the  mind  of  Colum- 
bus that  a  continent  lay  embedded  in  the  western 
waters. 

But,  still,  it  is  urged  that  the  particular  answer  to 
prayer  involves  a  miracle,  and  what  if  it  should  ? 
Miracles  are  not  impossible  to  the  Hearer  of  Prayer. 
If  the  Gospels  are  trustworthy  records,  apart  even 
from  inspiration,  miracles  occurred  in  answer  to  the 
prayers  addressed  to  Christ.     But  let  those  who  make 


364  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

the  assertion  sliow  tliat  what  they  say  is  true,  and  how 
a  miracle  is  involved  in  bringing  about  the  particular 
event  supjDosed  to  happen  in  answer  to  prayer.  Are 
not  events  happening  every  moment  that  would  never 
have  happened  but  for  the  asking  of  them  ?  And 
does  the  occurrence  of  these  involve  a  miracle  ?  No 
one  will  assert  that  it  does.  If,  then,  God  has  granted 
to  His  creatures  the  power  of  answering  the  requests 
of  one  another  without  the  workin^^  of  miracles,  or 
the  infringement  of  any  physical  law,  why  are  we  so 
strongly  urged  to  believe  that  He  cannot  Himself 
answer  the  petitions  of  His  children  without  working 
miracles  and  infringing  laws  ?  Surely  it  is  a  strange 
delusion  to  suppose  that  God  is  more  restricted  than 
man  is — a  hallucination  that  can  only  be  explained  on 
the  oTOund  that  men  do  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their 
thoughts. 

Still  men  wdll  clins;  to  the  idea  that  miracles  are 
necessarily  involved  in  answering  prayer,  and  we 
must  try  to  meet  them  on  their  own  ground.  Such 
persons,  we  fear,  have  not  formed  to  themselves  clear 
conceptions  of  what  a  miracle  is ;  probably  some  of 
them  regard  a  miracle  as  an  impossibility,  inasmuch 
as  it  in  some  Avay  involves  a  contradiction.  Then,  if 
the  answering  of  prayer  necessitated  anything  of  this 
sort,  we  would  join  with  them  in  the  belief  that 
prayer  cannot  be  answered.  Probably  others  among 
them  look  upon  a  miracle  as  an  infringement  of  the 
laws  of  nature,  which  are  the  laws  of  God ;  then  do 
we  also  agree  with  these,  that  if  the  answering  of 
prayer  necessitated  any  such  infringement,  it  could 


DUTY  AND  RA  TIONALE  OF  PR  A  YER.      365 

not  be  answered.  If,  however,  a  miracle  be  regarded 
as  the  communicating  of  an  additional  power  to  the 
functions  of  nature,  or  even  the  creating  of  a  new 
power  to  effect  a  new  and  hitherto  unheard-of  result, 
then  one  or  other,  or  both  of  them,  are  possible,  and 
have  in  point  of  fact  occurred,  e.cj. ,  in  the  incarnation 
of  the  Son  of  God,  and  the  regeneration  of  the  soul 
of  man.  But  these  also  are  denied  by  some  men  who 
are  not  ashamed  to  call  them.selves  Christian. 

The  existence  of  sin,  however,  we  think,  will  not 
be  denied  ;  if  not,  then,  let  all  such  persons  look  into 
its  nature,  and  they  will  perceive  that  it  is  an  infringe- 
ment of  law ;  for  it  is  "  the  transgression  of  the  law," 
the  deraugement  of  moral  harmony  and  physical 
function.  The  sinfulness  of  man  is  a  grievous  dis- 
cord introduced  among  the  principles  of  his  spiritual 
being  and  life,  and  this  fact  of  sin  is  stronger  than 
any  miracle  known  to  us  in  its  violation  of  all  law 
and  order.  In  the  sense  indicated,  viz.,  the  violation 
of  law,  sin  is  one  of  the  most  dreadful  of  all  possible 
miracles,  and  does  it  become  a  creature,  who  in  his 
every-day  life  experiences  the  sad  effects  of  sin,  to 
object  to  prayer  on  the  ground  that  its  answer 
involves  an  infringement  of  physical  law  ! 

The  conclusion,  then,  at  which  we  arrive  is  this,  viz., 
that  it  enters  into  the  original  constitution  of  things, 
that  God  should  give  certain  blessings  when  these  are 
asked  for  in  prayer,  and  withhold  them  when  not 
souo'ht  thus :  further,  that  an  instinct  has  been 
implanted  in  man  which  prompts  him  to  make  his 
wants  known  in  prayer  to  his  Father  in  heaven. 


366  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

A  difficulty,  no  doubt,  liere  arises,  inasmucli  as  God 
is  the  Supreme  Judge  of  right  and  wrong ;  and  as  we 
have  broken  His  laws,  and  stand  before  Him  as 
rebellious  sons,  it  is  needful  in  some  way  that  this 
matter  shonld  be  met,  and  the  difficulty  overcome. 
With  this  object  in  view,  a  new  power  has  been 
introduced  into  the  government  of  God,  and  as  we 
have  seen,  this  new  power  is  the  atonement  of  Christ 
which  harmonises  the  manifestations  of  God  with  the 
wants  of  men  and  the  requirements  of  law.  And,  now, 
in  order  to  lead  man  to  pray,  the  Holy  Ghost  has 
been  sent  to  plead  with  him,  and  the  gospel  of  the 
grace  of  God  in  Christ  has  been  published  abroad,  in 
which  gospel  men  are  entreated  and  commanded  to 
pray,  and  the  most  precious  promises  are  held  out 
with  a  view  to  encourage  men  to  engage  in  the 
exercise. 

Am  I,  therefore,  not  J;o  pray,  because  some  men  are 
disposed  to  imagine  that  the  answering  of  prayer 
involves  a  miracle,  a  some  wonderful  infringement 
of  physical  law  ?  Am  I  really  to  believe  that  by 
sinning,  I  can  derange  the  functions  of  my  whole 
nature,  and  disturb  the  harmony  of  Divine  govern- 
ment, and  refuse  to  pray,  because  certain  philosophers 
have  a  vague  idea  in  their  minds  about  the  infringe- 
ment of  physical  laws  ?  Am  I  not  rather  to  believe 
that  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  I  should  pray  ?  Am  I 
to  believe  that  He  has  so  ordered  matters  in  connection 
with  my  salvation  that  the  very  first  step  in  my 
return  to  God  shall  be  the  utterance  of  prayer  ?  Am 
I,  we  say,  to  believe  all  this,  and  yet  be  deterred  from 


D  UTY  AND  RA  TIONALE  OF  PR  A  YER.       3  6  7 

praying  to  God  because  of  a  vague  inference  drawn 
by  some  men  that  an  answer  to  my  prayer  violates 
physical  law  ?  Good  God  !  on  what  are  the  hearts  of 
men  bent  in  their  idolatrous  worship  and  insane 
jealousy  on  behalf  of  physical  law  ? 

Scriptural  views  of  prayer  do  not  lead  us  to 
imagine  that  physical  law  is  plastic  in  the  hands 
of  men,  by  no  means;  but  they  do  lead  us  to  the 
belief  that  by  means  of  these  very  laws  in  all  their 
rigidity  and  invariablencss,  God  works  out  the  good 
pleasure  of  His  will  in  harmony  with  the  nature  of 
His  creatures,  and  the  principles  of  His  administra- 
tion. 

Another  objection  to  prayer  is,  that  it  is  presump- 
tuous for  a  creature  like  man  to  think  that  God  will 
listen  to  his  requests,  or  interfere  with  the  move- 
ments of  nature  on  his  behalf.  This  objection,  like 
most  others,  arises  out  of  mistaken  notions  about 
the  nature  and  purpose  of  God,  and  His  doings  in 
connection  with  man.  From  His  omniscience.  He 
cannot  but  listen  to  the  recjuests  of  every  man,  and 
observe  the  motions  of  every  soul.  And  it  is  just  as 
easy  for  Him  to  arrange  the  movements  and  guide 
the  operations  of  nature  so  as  to  answer  the  petitions 
of  His  children,  as  it  is  delightful  to  Him  to  listen  to 
their  prayers. 

God  is  not  a  being  of  limited  resources,  dealing 
out  His  gifts  with  a  grudging,  or  even  sparing  hand ; 
but  the  Father  of  Spirits,  glad  to  impart  of  His  own 
fulness  to  His  offspring,  man.  And  in  all  the  pleni- 
tude of  His  beino-  He  has  made  Himself  the  treasure 

O 


368  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

of  tlieir  soul,  He  has  created  humanity  receptive  of 
Himself,  the  temple  of  His  holy  habitation ;  and  it 
is  His  delight  to  bestow,  with  all  the  generosity  of  His 
being,  His  fulness  on  man;  and  His  gifts  in  no  degree 
impoverish  Himself.  Look  at  His  unspeakable  gift, 
the  Son  of  His  love,  the  brightness  of  His  glory,  and 
the  express  image  of  His  person.  And  is  it  presump- 
tion on  the  part  of  those  who  profess  to  have  received 
this  gift  to  ask  for  anything  else  the  Father  hath  to 
bestow  ?  To  all  such  persons  no  argument  comes 
home  T\dth  greater  force  than  that  used  by  Paul, 
when,  with  irresistible  power,  he  urges :  '*  He  that 
spared  not  His  own  Son,  but  gave  Him  up  to  the 
death  for  us  all,  how  shall  He  not  with  Him  also 
freely  give  us  all  things." 

The  end  of  all  God's  dealings  in  creation,  provi- 
dence, and  redemption,  is  to  produce  the  filial  heart 
in  man  ;  and  if  so,  can  there  be  anything  too  great 
for  the  Son  to  ask,  or  for  the  Father  to  bestow  ? 


(  369  ) 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


CONCLUSION. 


The  whole  of  God's  dealing  with  man  from  first  to 
last  has  been,  as  indicated,  with  a  view  to  impart  to 
him  the  highest  nature,  and  to  place  wdthin  his  reach 
the  highest  development  which  finite  existence  is 
capable  of  reaching.  And  in  the  carrying  out  of 
this  purpose  man's  relation  of  being  and  life  are 
indefinitely  multiplying,  and  his  capacities  are  being 
unfolded  in  the  most  glorious  manner.  God  is 
begetting  sons  in  His  own  image,  and  revealing 
Himself  to  them  as  their  "  Father  in  heaven." 

In  all  creation's  work  there  is  nothing  grander 
than  man.  The  mechanism  of  his  body  is  perfect, 
more  perfect  than  any  machine  ever  devised,  and 
nothing  can  transcend  his  rational  and  spiritual 
existence;  humanity  of  all  natures  known  to  us 
has  entered  into  a  oneness  of  life,  and  even  person- 
ality with  the  Divine.  And  in  the  redemption  of 
man  God  is  not  only  disj^laying  the  highest  per- 
fection of  His  own  being,  but  developing  the  capa- 
cities and  powers  of  humanity,  and  is  calling  man 
into  the  Sonship,  and  leading  him  into  the  inner 
circle  of  His  own  immediate  fellowship. 


2  A 


370  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIIUTUAL  LIFE. 

Man,  however,  in  order  to  tlie  attainment  of  tliis 
enel,  must  work  out  Avbat  God  works  in  liim.  The 
function  of  tlie  body  is  to  work  out  what  the  soul 
■works  in  it,  nothing  more  and  nothing  less ;  and  the 
Spirit's  function  is  to  work  out  Avhat  the  Spirit  of 
God  works  in  it,  nothing  more  and  nothing  less.  In 
this  outworking  the  perfection  of  being  and  the 
liarmony  of  life  is  realised.  Man  is  blessed  only 
in  fellowship  with  God,  and  the  work  of  bringing 
liim  into  this  fellowship  is  the  work  which  God 
lias  emphatically  made  His  own,  and  in  the  accom- 
plishment of  it  He  is  showing  forth  His  glory. 

In  everything,  however,  that  appertains  to  this  work, 
the  believer  should  carefully  bear  in  mind  that  he  is 
only  an  under  builder,  working  out  what  God  by  His 
Spirit  works  in  him.  He  should  never  lose  sight  of 
the  fact,  that  it  is  the  prerogative  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
to  work  within  him,  "both  to  will  and  to  do  of  God's 
good  pleasure."  The  great  mistake  of  the  disciple  in 
all  ages,  has  been  to  loose  sight  of  this  one  funda- 
mental principle.  One  of  the  first  public  blunders 
which  the  twelve  fell  into  was  the  forbidding  of  one 
to  cast  out  devils  because  he  followed  not  with  tbcm ; 
a  regard  to  formal  ends,  and  a  leaning  to  human 
opinions  and  authority,  has  been  an  error  of  the  dis- 
ciples all  along,  instead  of  sitting  at  the  feet  of  Jesus, 
and  learning  the  law  from  His  lips,  and  desiring 
above  all  thinc^s  to  be  conformed  to  Him.  The  first 
twelve  were  ever  clinoinix  to  their  own  notions,  and 
endeavouring  to  bring  Christ  over  to  their  likings, 
ideas,    and    ends.      The   undivided    looking   to   the 


CONCLUSION.  371 

Saviour,  tlie  unqualified  reception  of  Him,  and  the 
depending  upon  Him  alone  for  salvation,  lias  been 
tlie  one  difficulty  of  the  quickened,  and  partially 
sanctified  on  earth,  and  this  is  still  the  folly  and 
weakness  of  the  Church  below. 

It  shall  not,  however,  be  thus  in  heaven,  for  there 
the  disciple  shall  be  raised  far  above  such  folly,  the 
saint,  both  in  his  external  circumstances  and  internal 
condition,  shall  then  be  perfect  in  knowledge,  in 
purity,  and  in  strength ;  here  he  sees  but  "  through  a 
glass  darkly,"  "he  knows  but  in  part,"  but  there  "he 
shall  see  face  to  face,  and  know  even  as  he  is  known." 
Eevelation,  here,  unlike  the  noonday  sun,  which 
completely  chases  away  the  darkness  of  the  night,  is 
rather  like  the  midnight  star,  which,  while  it  dis- 
closes itself,  tends  only  to  make  the  surrounding  dark- 
ness the  more  palpable.  Revelation  not  only  tells  us 
of  a  darkness  within  it,  but  also  makes  known  to  us 
a  darkness  without ;  it  tells  us  of  things  which  lie 
beyond  the  reach  of  reason's  discovery,  and  far  remote 
from  the  sphere  of  our  present  power  of  investigation. 
It  also  tells  us  of  truths,  which,  while  beyond  the 
reach  of  our  present  comprehension,  are  truths  in  the 
knowledge  of  which  our  highest  interest  are  deeply 
involved,  and  truths  which,  while  we  remain  in 
our  present  state,  can  never  be  adequately  known 
by  us. 

But  in  the  world  to  come  our  present  limitations 
shall  cease  to  clog  our  powers,  the  clouds  and  dark- 
ness which  now  surround  us  shall  all  be  dispelled  in 
the  light  of  God's  countenance,  and  we  shall  be  per- 


372  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

feet  in  love  and  knowledge ;  for,  possessed  of  a 
capacity  for  knowledge  boundless  as  space,  and  of 
powers  capable  of  indefinite  expansion,  tlie  believer 
will  be  able  to  contain  in  liis  compreliensive  grasp 
not  only  adequate  ideas  of  all  worlds,  but  a  complete 
acquaintance  witli  all  created  essences,  and,  scanning 
not  only  the  surface  but  penetrating  into  the  inmost 
recesses  of  things,  the  glorified  son  shall  be  acquainted 
with  all  the  possibilities  of  creation,  as  well  as  with 
all  the  actualities,  and  shall  rise  to  the  perfect  know- 
ledge of  the  divine  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God  as 
displayed  in  the  works  of  His  all -creating  hand. 
And  most  of  all,  interested  in  redemption's  glorious 
achievement,  the  son  will  surpass  the  angels  in  his 
knowledge  of  the  things  which  they  even  now 
earnestly  desire  to  look  into,  and  advancing  to  all 
but  absolute  knowledge  of  the  lacing  and  perfections 
of  the  Eternal  God,  as  displayed  in  the  highest  of 
all  His  w^orks,  beholding  the  divine  love  in  all  but 
the  infinitude  of  its  grace,  the  divine  mercy  in  the 
boundless  riches  of  its  majesty  and  grandeur ;  nor 
resting  here,  but  in  the  full  consciousness  of  the  filial 
heart  admitted  into  the  immediate  presence  of  the 
"  Father  of  Spirits,"  holding  uninterrupted  com- 
munion with  the  Eternal  Jehovah,  and  standing  in 
the  nearest  relation  to  the  unveiled  Three,  the  son 
in  glory  will  obtain  the  highest  knowledge  of  the 
divine  essence,  perfection,  and  work  to  which  created 
nature  can  attain. 

And  what  shall  be  the  bliss  of  that  vision  ?     If, 
even   here,    amid   the   imperfections   of  the  present 


CONCLUSION.  373 

state,  the  perception  of  divine  wisdom  and  goodness 
is  found  to  impart  a  pure  delight,  and  the  knowledge 
of  God  in  Christ,  to  afford  a  transporting  joy,  wdiat 
must  be  the  emotion  produced  by  the  cloudless  vision 
of  Jehovah's  glory,  and  the  untainted  purities  of  the 
perfect  state  ?  AVhat  must  be  the  ravishing  ecstasy 
of  the  redeemed  soul  perfected  in  the  image  of  God, 
when,  all  but  absolute  in  his  grasp,  he  shall  survey 
the  entire  fabric  of  creation,  and  comprehend  the 
beauty  of  God's  perfect  and  complete  design,  and 
when,  worshipping  in  the  temple  not  made  with 
hands,  he  shall  behold  the  Father  enthroned  on  the 
necessity  of  His  own  existence,  and  radiant  in  the 
glory  of  His  own  uncreated  essence  % 

Yet,  desirable  and  blessed  as  knowledoje  is,  it  is 
only  after  all  a  means  to  an  end,  and  this  end  is 
holiness,  the  perfection  of  nature  and  life.  There  are 
attainments  in  heaven  on  which  the  heart  of  the 
glorified  son  shall  be  more  intent  than  even  know- 
ledge. The  son  knows  that  beyond  the  grave  he 
shall  no  longer  bewail  his  imperfect  purity,  for  there 
he  shall  be  bright  with  the  transcript  of  the  Divine 
Image,  and  pure  as  the  spotless  resemblance  of  God. 
The  son  knows  he  shall  then  be  no  longer  the  subject 
of  contending  passions,  torn  and  distracted  with  the 
motions  of  sin.  No  longer  exj^osed  to  the  disturbing- 
influences  of  the  wicked  one ;  no  longer  surrounded 
by  objects  which  withdraw  his  attention  from  the 
divine,  and  lead  him  to  forgetfulness  of  God ;  no 
longer  within  the  reach  of  diabolic  hate,  but  in 
heaven   itself,    the   region   of    perfection    and   bliss. 


374  THE  SCIENCE  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

The  son  shall  tlien  realise  obedience  to  be  as  spon- 
taneous as  tlie  perennial  spring,  and  delightsome  as 
the  overflowing  of  gratitude.  Fully  delivered  from  evil 
of  every  kind,  washed  with  all  the  cleansing  efficacy 
of  redeeming  blood,  and  wholly  sanctified  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,  he  shall  dwell  in  the  immediate 
presence  of  the  Father,  and  bask  for  ever  in  the 
smile  of  His  love. 

If  even  on  earth  amid  the  remains  of  imperfection 
the  son  realises  the  joys  of  holiness  to  be  delightful, 
and  if  the  anticipation  of  its  full  realisation  above 
thrills  the  soul,  and  wafts  the  spirit  of  the  believer  in 
transports  of  joy  to  the  realms  of  bliss,  what  shall  be 
the  ravishing  ecstasy  of  the  believer's  delight  when 
completely  delivered  from  all  imperfections,  from  sin 
and  all  its  consequences,  he  shall  behold  the  face  of 
God  in  rioiiteous  bless  ? 

In  heaven  the  saint  shall  be  strong  in  ''the  grace 
that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,"  "strengthened  with  all 
strens^th  in  the  inner  "  and  outer  man  he  shall  for  ever 
reign  with  imperial  power  over  all  evil.  Here  the 
saint  is  feeble  and  frail,  he  halts  too  often  in  moments 
of  temptation,  and  hesitates  at  times  between  self  and 
God ;  but  in  heaven  he  shall  be  strong  in  the  posses- 
sion of  a  renewed  and  wholly  sanctified  nature.  Per- 
ceiving the  possibilities  and  results  of  all  actions,  and 
acting  in  entire  harmony  with  the  ends,  and  in  per- 
fect concord  with  the  agencies  appointed  by  God  in 
the  full  energy  of  the  conscious  rectitude  of  his  doing, 
in  bringing  about  new  combinations,  the  son  shall 
accomplish  glorious  results  and  send  thrills  of  delight 


CONCLUSION.  375 

to  creation's  utmost  bounds.  Immortal  in  liis  nature, 
all-discerning  in  his  knowledge,  all-rigliteous  in  liis 
principles,  all-beneficent  in  liis  designs,  all-divine  in 
his  volitions,  there  can  be  no  conflict  or  restraint  in 
his  acting.  What,  then,  must  be  the  conscious  delight 
of  the  son  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  his  strength  above  ? 

The  believer  may  be  unknown  to  the  world  and 
disregarded  by  it  in  the  glorious  work  of  assimilating 
his  life  to  the  divine.  As  his  Lord  was  so  is  he  in 
the  world.  But  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  a  prince 
in  the  court  of  his  Father,  the  son  shall  occupy  the 
loftiest  position,  and  shall  be  fully  aj)preciated  as  one 
of  those  for  whose  sake  the  universe  was  called  into 
being,  and  on  whose  behalf  the  highest  powers  and 
perfections  of  Godhead  have  been  disj)layed.  As  a 
King  and  Priest  unto  God,  the  believer  shall  closely 
resemble  his  Elder  Brother,  the  Incarnate  One,  the 
King  of  Glory. 

While  on  earth  the  believer  is  often  denied  the 
society  of  the  illustrious  and  learned,  from  wdiom  he 
could  learn  many  things ;  but  in  heaven  he  shall 
mingle  with  the  most  illustrious,  and  occupy  a  posi- 
tion hiojher  than  the  anofelic  host :  he  shall  meet  with 
the  virtuous  of  all  ages,  and  hold  intercourse  with  the 
loftiest  orders  of  existence  ;  he  shall  company  with  all 
the  great  and  good  who  have  gone  before  him,  and 
may  yet  follow  after  him  ;  he  shall  enjoy  their  society 
and  commune  with  them  on  all  that  can  occu^^y  their 
thoughts  and  delight  their  hearts  ;  and  above  all,  he 
shall  enjoy  uninterrupted  communion  with  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 


376  THE  SCIENCE  OE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

If,  tlieu,  tlie  love  of  distinction  and  the  conscious- 
ness of  dignity  be  natural  to  man's  immortal  being, 
Avhat  shall  be  the  pure  satisfaction  and  delight  of  the 
son  when  he  becomes  fully  conscious  of  his  true  dig- 
nity and  high  distinction  in  His  Father's  house  above  ? 
No  heart  on  earth  can  comprehend  the  joy  and  delight 
of  such  a  realisation.     Oh,  then,  what  shall  be  the 
emotions  of  the  ransomed  soul  when  first  it  awakens 
to  the  consciousness  of  the  felicities  of  the  life  above, 
and   finds    itself  in  tlie  immediate  presence   of  the 
Eternal   God,    beholding   His    unveiled   glories,    and 
sliaring  in  the  full  participation  of  that  glory  whicli 
the  Eternal  Son  has  received  from  His  Everlasting 
Father,  as  the  reward  of  His  obedience  unto  death, 
ever   worshipping    with    extasy   and    delight,    ever 
studying  with  adoring  wonder  the  mysteries  of  re- 
deeming love,  and  conscious  that  all  is  of  free  sove- 
reign grace  !    What  must  be  the  enrapturing  beatitude 
of  the  immortal  soul,  as  ever  and  anon,  in  adoring 
gratitude,  it  casts  its  crown  before  the  throne,  ascrib- 
ing "blessing,  and  honour,  and  glory,  and  power,  unto 
Him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,"  as  they  all  with 
one  united  heart  and  voice  exclaim,  "Not  unto  us, 
but  unto  Thy  name,  be  the  glory." 

"  A  Avoid  reached  me  stealthily, 
AthI  my  car  heard  a  whisper  thereof 
111  the  phiy  of  thought :  in  the  visions  of  the  night, 
When  deep  sleep  falleth  on  men. 
Fear  came  npon  me,  and,  tremhling, 

And  it  caused  the  nuiltitude  of  my  bones  to  qnake  with  fear, 
And  a  breathing  passed  over  my  face, 
The  hair  of  my  flesh  stood  up. 


CONCLUSION.  377 

It  stood  there  and  I  discerned  not  its  appearance, 

An  image  was  before  mine  eyes, 

A  gentle  murmur  and  I  heard  a  voice  : 

Is  mortal  man  just  before  Eloah, 

Or  a  man  pure  before  his  Maker  ? ' 

"  Thou  hast  gone  up  on  high, 
Thou  hast  captivated  captivity, 
Thou  hast  acquired  gifts  for  men. 
Yea,  even  rebels  may  become  the  dwelling  of  Jehovah  God." 

"I  in  tliem  and  Tlioii  in  Me,  that  tliey  may  be 
made  perfect  in  one,  and  that  the  workl  may  know 
that  Thou  hast  sent  Me,  and  hast  loved  them,  as 
Thou  hast  loved  Me." 


THE    END. 


PRINTED  BY  HALLANTYNE,  HANSON  AND  CO. 
EDINBURGH  AND  LONDON 


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